Newsletter · Volume 21: Traveling

Wayne Senville has a new blog about his US 50 travels. Check the recent Carson City, and Ely NV stories at:
http://www.rte50.com/

Here’s a story about a 1915 1,000 mile durability run by a Wallis cub tractor on the Lincoln Highway, by Dan Whalen, from Dick &Shirley Carroll’s Massey Harris and Wallis Tractor collecting website:
http://massey-harris.com/measuringstickp8.htm

Peter Findlay, from Burnaby, British Columbia sends a query:

Hello. Last week, while on a trip from Cedar Rapids to Chicago, I had a very interesting visit at the headquarters in Franklin Grove. The folks there were very informative and helpful.

I have an interest in the old highway for two reasons: First, in 1997 my father and I drove his 1912 REO across Canada, re-creating the first trans-Canada Auto trip. Here is a link to our website about that trip:
http://wolfe.vsb.bc.ca/autotour

It was on this trip that I caught “the bug” for researching and travelling original highways.

Second, I am seeking information on a 1913 Motorcycle trip that followed the Lincoln Highway route. The rider’s name was Carl Stearns (Stevens?) Clancy and he was completing the first ever around the world motorcycle trip. If you have any contacts who may have information about this trip, I’d like to hear about them. It is my dream to re-create this trip on my own 1913 Henderson motorcycle in 2013. Perhaps it could be a part of the Lincoln Highway centennial celebrations.

Here is a link to my page seeking info about Clancy’s trip:

http://duetsoftware.ca/pf/clancy

Thanks again for the help of your organization. We enjoyed our visit to Iowa and Illinois and will be returning – hopefully with my 1913 Henderson motorcycle!

Check out Todd Harley’s blog with pics of old restored gas stations:
http://groups.msn.com/ToddsHarleyPix/oldgasstations.msnw

Newsletter · Volume 21: Illinois markers

Longtime LHA member and author Lowell Nissley writes:

“Thanks for all your hard work in keeping us informed on what’s happening along the LH. In the last issue of the FORUM I noticed an article on Illinois markers (page 43). The article says that the markers were “Designed by the Jensen Corporation, a landscape architect firm in Ravinia, Illinois.” Does this give a legitimate clue as to who made and where the posts were made?

Here’s my thoughts:

The Jensen Corporation is undoubtedly Jen Jensen, the noted Prairie – Arts & Crafts style landscape architect, who was previously associated with the Lincoln Highway Assoc. at least back to 1917. Jensen’s papers were destroyed in a fire, but his drawings and blueprints were saved and donated to the Bentley Historical Library which is located on the North Campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. See:
http://xrl.us/vn7r and
http://bentley.umich.edu/

Among his drawing are two large (approx. 2 ft × 6 ft) suggested plantings for the Lincoln Highway along a meadow, and along a prairie, from 1917. There is also a complete set of blueprints of the Ideal Section (from the Fed Hwy Admin), plus many Ideal Section drawings including those for the Ostermann Memorial bench, and plans and drawings for the unrealized Ideal Section Campground. The U of M Special Collections Library also has a nice matted and framed colored drawing of the Ideal Section Campground that was part of the LHA holdings. Alas, the Jensen holdings have no mention of the concrete markers. Also at the Bentley are the archives of Henry Joy, including his photo albums of his 1915 LH trip.

In the LHA holdings at U of M’s Special Collections’ LHA Holding is a “marker” file. In it was only a small blueprint of a rough drawing of a top part of a marker.

The secret to finding out where the markers were made may be in the papers of the Whitehead & Hoag Company who made the bronze Lincoln medallion inserts. They were located in Newark, may have went out of business in 1959, and the location of their papers, if they still exist, is unknown.

Lowell’s book Lincoln Highway, The Road My Father Traveled won an award from the Independent Publishers Book Review in the travel category.

Newsletter · Volume 21: Nevada

An article about the rededication of the Lincoln and Victory highways in the Wendover, NV area. Hats off to Rollin Southwell for his support for this effort:
http://www.financevisor.com/market/news_detail.aspx?rid=55922
and:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/06/prweb534147.htm

The Reno Arch from the mylifeinreno blog:
http://mylifeinreno.wordpress.com/2007/04/23/the-reno-arch/

An interesting blog about the McGill NV clubhouse by the current owner:
http://mcgillclubhouse.com/

Newsletter · Volume 21: Wyoming

The Historic Wallis Ranch, north of Saratoga, WY including part of an early Lincoln Highway alignment, is for sale. Checkout the pictures on this PDF. If you need 16,000+ acres and have 4.5 million dollars then this place may be for you:
http://www.century21cornerstone.com/pdf/wallis_ranch.pdf

Former LHA President Chris Plummer writes, “Did you know the Hollywood movie World’s Fastest Indian contains several scenes filmed along the Lincoln Highway in Echo Canyon, Utah.”

[Let’s compile a list of songs, novels, stories, radio shows, TV shows and movies that are about or take place on the Lincoln Highway. E-mail these to me and I will compile a list and post it on the web.]

Ames Monument page from the Waymarks, “Pyramids” site:
http://xrl.us/2tdq

From the Jackson Hole Star TribuneDiscover Rawlins:
http://xrl.us/2tfy

Newsletter · Volume 21: Nebraska

Shelton, NE celebrates 10 years of Lincoln Highway Festivals [thanks to Bob and Lenore Stubblefield]:
http://xrl.us/2tbb

Glenn Wells of yahoo’s roadsidefans Group reports, “Fremont, Nebraska has a new diner, Penny’s Diner, and it’s even open 24 hours. From the photograph, it appears to be a Starlite. The diner is located north of East 23rd Street near Wal-Mart.”

The historic Pawnee Hotel in North Platte, NE was sold in May at a sheriff’s auction:
http://xrl.us/2td6

From the Omaha World-Herald, a Sutherland, NE couple buy their own Valentine diner:
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10060437

Newsletter · Volume 21: Iowa

From Van & Bev Becker:

With sadness, we note the end of an era. The Lincoln Highway Orchard on the west side of Cedar Rapids where the original route joins Hwy 30, is cluttered with closed signs. Where once there were hundreds of producing apple trees, now there is only a short row on each side of the house. Only 22 trees remain.

This once-thriving business has been sacrificed to make way for a Hwy 100 bypass around the northwest side of Cedar Rapids.

The Iowa DOT apparently does not understand the difference between a one-year cycle on a field of corn and a 10+ year cycle for an orchard. We have spoken often with the owners and after years of fighting the DOT, they were flustered, fatigued and resigned to the end of their orchard and chosen way of life.

As regular customers, I guess we’re going to have to find a new source for quality apple cider. Some members will recall their cider served at our Iowa LHA meetings served at the History Center and the Cedar Rapids Library.

The Sioux City Journal reports on a new website covering Iowa auto trails:
http://xrl.us/2s98
[The link in the story doesn’t work!! If someone knows what it is please let me know.]
I was able to find IDOT’s historical on-line photo data base though at:
http://165.206.203.102/ERMSPortal/HistoricalPhotos_Home.aspx

Iowa Public Radio News took home a number of awards in the 2006 Iowa Broadcast News Association (IBNA) and Iowa Associated Press (AP) contests, including Kyle Gassiott – 1st Place – Best Student Radio Feature – On the Road on the Lincoln Highway in Iowa. [Anyone know if this show is archived on web?]

New Gazebo adorns old gas station site in Lisbon, IA from the Sun.com:
http://www.mtvernonlisbonsun.com/article.php?viewID=1387

Newsletter · Volume 21: Illinois

nwi.com reports that the city of Lynwood, IL voted to contribute funds for the construction of an interpretative gazebo on the Lincoln Highway. This is part of a project by the Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition for 20 such gazebos across IL on the LW:
http://xrl.us/2s5u

Check out Jim Frazier‘s Photography blog on the LH in IL:
http://thelincolnhighway.blogspot.com/

IL’s RoadDog reports:

Ground was broken this past Saturday in New Lenox for the new $225 million Lincoln-Way West High School. Upon completion, it will serve 2,500 students and have three wings. It will join three other Lincoln-Way high schools: North, Central, and East. One of these has a LH concrete marker, but I don’t know which one.

Matteson, IL’s mayor vetoes a new Walgreens on the Lincoln Highway as “a real negative impact on the quality of life in the area”:
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/business/329436,061BIZ3.article

Local watering holes and live music on the Lincoln Highway in DeKalb:
http://www.northernstar.info/articles/?id=35982

Saving the house where Lincoln slept in Sterling, IL:
http://xrl.us/2s9h

More articles about the murals in DeKalb from the Northern Star:
http://www.star.niu.edu/articles/?id=36053
and from Midweek.com:
http://xrl.us/2tae

A nice article about downtown Geneva from newzblogz.com:
http://xrl.us/2s92

Fulton, IL folk art – willow chairs:
http://xrl.us/2s96

From chicagobusiness.com – Take a trip around Illinois with Abraham Lincoln:
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=24861

RoadDog
sends this report on DeKalb’s Cornfest:

One of the major Lincoln Highway celebrations in Illinois will be held in a different location next year because of planned roadwork. For the last 29 years, it has been held right on Main Street which is the LH. It is blocked off between 4th and 1st streets.

Close to 100,000 people attend to eat, eat lots of sweet corn (free for awhile on Saturday) and listen to some great music.

Possible alternate locations are Dekalb’s Taylor Airport or NIU’s Convocation Center. It is not clear whether it will move back in 2009. I definitely hope it returns. Nothing like eating corn and listening to music RIGHT on the old LH and not getting run over by an auto.

The 30th Cornfest is set for Aug. 24-26. Country band Sawyer Brown and Idol finalist Becky Covington are scheduled to appear already, along with local favorite groups.

From the Rockford Register Star – Read about the IL Lincoln Highway National Scenic Byway’s ambitious mural project at:
http://xrl.us/2tfh
plus their history article at:
http://xrl.us/2tfj

Newsletter · Volume 21: Indiana

From April’s Chicago Tribune comes an extensive article about writer Pamela Selbert‘s recent road trip on the Lincoln Highway in Indiana:
http://xrl.us/2tav

A very interesting article about 73rd Ave. in Merrillville, IN – the Sauk Trail, and later the Lincoln Highway, from post-trib.com, 73rd Avenue was ‘human epic in continental settlement’:
http://www.post-trib.com/news/burns/392306,nostalgia.article

Here’s the website for the South Side Soda Shop and Diner in Goshen, IN:
http://southsidesodashopdiner.com/

Newsletter · Volume 21: Ohio

Unbelievably, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland.com has a 9 page on-line article about eating your way across the Lincoln Highway in Ohio – Savoring the Lincoln Highway, Where diners serve a mean apple pie and the little towns are sweet, by Michael Sangiacomo:
http://xrl.us/2tgc
[I wonder where he got that idea? Maybe great minds just think alike or great stomachs! :)]

Tom Lockard has some more suggestions for my Ohio LH Eats:

Hi Russ – I enjoyed your latest LH E-newsletter, but wish I had sent in some Ohio roadfood suggestions before you published your list, rather than after the fact. I’ll pass them along now, though, for the benefit of your hungry readers.

  • The Orchard Tree, Van Wert – If you happen to pass through Van Wert on a Monday, (as I have recently twice) Balyeat’s is closed.This place is on the left just a bit further west of downtown and it is open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There’s a breakfast special for $3.89, almost all of the sandwiches are under $4.00 and dinner entrees are less than $10.00.
  • B & Mary’s Diner, Canton – Formerly the City Diner, a genuine Kullman Diner built in Newark, NJ and first opened in Canton in 1958. Before it became B & Mary’s, business had slowed considerably, but the last time I was there the joint was jumping. Still much of the same diner food we all love, but since the new owners are African-American, some great barbeque is now on the menu.
  • Nicole’s Family Restaurant, East Canton – This is my wife’s favorite place along the Ohio LH, primarily for their delicious broasted chicken (breast, leg, thigh and wing for only $6.99). They usually host at least one classic car cruise-in a year and are good LH supporters. Closed Monday.
  • Al Smith’s Place, Bucyrus – A popular place for Sunday dinner, this family restaurant features such “house specialties” as roast beef
    dinners and roasted turkey dinners complete with three sides for $8.70. Their hand-dipped onion rings (enough for two) are not to be missed at $6.15. If you have enough room, try any number of delicious homemade pies. There’s a nice adjoining motel in case you are too full to continue your LH journey.
  • Oak Park Tavern, Mansfield – A hidden gem between Mansfield and Mifflin near the Charles Mill Dam and an occasional monthly meeting destination for the Mid-Ohio chapter of the Lincoln Highway League. There’s always a good seafood selection in the $12 – $16 range and a wide array of steaks.

I could go on, but will stop for now. As for Indiana, I’ll await your list in the next newsletter, but will pass along one place in Warsaw that you have probably checked out – Schoop’s, Hamburgers since 1948. This is one of those retro diners, but the food is good, plentiful and inexpensive. It sits on the north side of the current Route 30 where it is joined by an earlier LH alignment. There’s a “jumbo” pork tenderloin sandwich for $4.35.

Mike Hocker, Executive Director of the Ohio Lincoln Highway Historic Byway reports – Earlier Lincoln Highway Routes Now Being Marked:

When ODOT (Ohio Department of Transportation) designated the Ohio portion of the Lincoln Highway, America’s first coast-to-coast road, as an historic Ohio byway, it made sense to mark the 1928 route. This was the route that was last placed by the national Lincoln Highway Association, a group of private businessmen who’d seen the need for a transcontinental paved road to encourage the government to pay more attention to the motorcar as a way of transportation for the future. But there were earlier and alternate routes that existed that were equally as significant to the impact the road had on developing the auto economy of the U.S.

For the past two years, the OLHHC (Ohio Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor) in conjunction with the Ohio Chapter of the Lincoln Highway Association has been working with ODOT and all other levels of government to place one hundred logo signs with an added date sign below that expresses the year or years the alignment existed, and also includes directional arrows. If you see a Lincoln Highway logo sign with a surrounding brown field that contains the word “historic,” it will be ODOT’s designated byway, that of the 1928 route. But soon you will see red, white and blue Lincoln Highway logo signs with a smaller white sign mounted below on the earlier routes.

With the third annual BUY-WAY Yard Sale coming up August 9 through 11, we are hoping to have all the signs installed to help travelers find their way shopping across the state. Most of these alternate routes will be having yard sale events, so there is the opportunity for shoppers to travel more than one route from point A to point B… or at least travel one route going, and the other route returning from their travels.

As an example, the route from Mansfield east to Ashland via US Route 42, (on US 250 through Rowsburg and New Pittsburg to Jefferson) is not part of the 1928 route, but was the official highway from its inception in 1913 until the association’s last action in 1928, which moved the route to SR 430 and old Route 30 (now 30A) via Mifflin, Hayesville, Jeromesville, and to Jefferson.

Another example: the route from Mansfield westward originally traveled along SR 309 to Galion and entered Bucyrus along Hopley Avenue until about 1921, when it was moved to exit Mansfield along West Fourth Street, go through Crestline, Leesville and on to Bucyrus via the recent two-lane US 30 (now C. R. 330) into Bucyrus.

And the route from Upper Sandusky westward originally traveled along SR 53 and SR 81 through Forest, Dunkirk, Dola and Ada until about 1919, but passed through Lima and Elida along SR 309 to Delphos in the early days (until about 1915). By 1919 it was moved to the present day 2 lane U.S. 30 and through Williamstown, Beaverdam, Cairo and Gomer.

The OLHHC thanks ODOT and the county, city, village and townships who will be installing these signs. By marking these earlier routes the public will be better educated about the history of the highway, and will be able to enjoy more of the paths that early motorists once traveled.

Wooster, OH’s Lincoln Re-enactor Pete Raymond keeps busy, from the Daily-Record.com:
http://www.the-daily-record.com/news/article/2027291

From the Ada Herald is an article about the 13th annual meeting of the Ohio Lincoln Highway League in May:
http://xrl.us/2tdm

Janet Jones from Main Street Van Wert Inc. reports:

Thought you might want to know about anther LH corridor project – this one in Van Wert, Ohio, just east of Fort Wayne. Van Wert is applying for Transportation Enhancement dollars to help with our Main Street streetscape project. We have not received our drawings yet but should have them soon, but this will give you an idea of what we are planning.

First Main Street is Lincoln Highway. At the new ADA curbs we will be inlaying the Lincoln Highway logo. We are looking at several different materials.We discussed tinted cement or engraved granite inlay or a bronze plaque inlay. In this phase it will be at all four corners of the 3 major intersections. Our benches and trash receptacles will have the L in wrought iron on them.

In our second phase, we are planning to install several of the wrought iron arches which went over Main Street in 1900. These arches will incorporate both Van Wert and the Lincoln Highway.

Please know that all of this will be done with taste and will maintain the integrity of the Lincoln Highway.

— Jane A. Jones, Program Manager

Main Street Van Wert, Inc.
118 West Main Street
Van Wert, OH 45891
Phone/Fax: 419/238-6911
Email:

A nice run down on Van Wert municipal development projects from the Greater Fort Wayne Business Daily:
http://xrl.us/2tvx

From the Delphos Herald, a story about the annual Peony Festival in Van Wert, since 1902:
http://xrl.us/2tea
and check out the Our Little Acre blog about the festival and Van Wert:
http://ourlittleacre.blogspot.com/2007/06/2007-peony-festival.html

Newsletter · Volume 21: Pennsylvania

PA’s Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor has some great articles online on their News page. Here you can read about Clara Gardner – the Ship Hotel “Baby”, the reopening of the Bedford Springs Hotel, the premier coverlet collection in Latrobe, renovation of the Historic Wills House in Gettysburg, and other PA LH activities:
http://www.lhhc.org/content/subpag/news.asp

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review discusses the history and future of Wilkinsburg:
http://xrl.us/2s67

About this Brian Butko comments:

Wilkinsburg is just a couple blocks from the Frick http://frickart.org where I gave my early-travel talk last month, and it (the Frick) has a great car and carriage museum. Right on the line between Pittsburgh and Wilkinsburg is Peppi’s, better known as the former Charlie’s Scotty’s Diner.

Yes, the main drag was the Lincoln AND William Penn Highways — the forlorn remnants of the Penn-Lincoln Hotel prove it.

Indeed, there are fine homes, businesses, and hope for the future. Still, I think most LH tourists would hit the accelerator on their drive through town. Like many towns (and boroughs) where steel and other big industries were once king, empty storefronts predominate. For those who do slow down, there’s a great bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln at the intersection of the L and WP highways, and the deco diner is truly a miracle in a region where most diners have moved out. (PA is surely the biggest old-diner exporter, as there were so many, and they remained mostly original, but now the population is not there to support them while growing areas are hungry for such places, and at bargain prices.) Across the street, a corner gas station is being replaced by a drugstore. It’s good to hear that there’s hope for the housing — every town in the region has mini-mansions, usually at hilltops where steel executives once lived, but now the gems are surrounded by boarded-up, overgrown cousins.

Likewise experiencing a turnaround a mile to the west is East Liberty, once home to what’s called the first drive-in gas station (on the LH) but ripped apart by urban redevelopment in the 60s, notably a traffic circle around the business district. It’s suddenly become the place to grow and go, making for some interesting contrasts. On its western end, many old auto dealers still line Pittsburgh’s LH-era “automobile row.”

Craig, from Mechanicsburg, PA reports on his April day trip LH
jaunt, from Yahoo’s roadsidefans discussion group:

I took a short jaunt on the Lincoln Highway yesterday. I exited Interstate 81 at the Lincoln Way exit near Chambersburg. I went downtown briefly to visit the Olympia Candy Kitchen, a candy and gift shop that has been in business since 1903. It was good to see the store busy with Easter Candy buyers in anticipation of tomorrow’s holiday. I walked down the street to take a look at the Capitol Theater and I also saw that the historic Molly Pitcher Waffle House is back in business. It was closed the last time I was there in December.

I then returned to the Lincoln Highway and headed west toward Fayetteville. The Lincoln Highway pretty much follows Route 30, but does head off now and then onto the old road. I made a few stops at some antique stores before coming to my one of my favorite roadside attractions, Mr. Ed’s Elephant Museum (http://www.mistereds.com). Mr. Ed sells fresh roasted peanuts, lots of old fashioned candy, fudge, and of course many elephant souvenirs.

I have been there many times so I already have their mugs and T shirt, so yesterday I bought peanuts, rootbeer barrels and a small red elephant knickknack. I also visited the free museum filled with all kinds of elephant memorabilia from stuffed elephants, glass elephants, toy elephants to even an elephant potty chair.

And since the Totem Pole Play house is nearby (where Jean Stapleton often performed, because her husband ran the place) there is even an autographed cast photo from All in the Family hanging on the wall.

Outside at Mr. Ed’s there is a big fiberglass elephant named Miss Ellie. She talks to you and flaps her eyes and ears as she speaks. On the other side of the yard is another large elephant by a pond and a few giraffes. A sign invites all to enjoy the yard and gardens.

After my visit at Mr. Ed’s, I continued down the Lincoln Highway to Gettysburg. I took a short detour to visit a round barn. The barn was closed, but will reopen in May to see fresh fruit and vegetables. I then continued on to Gettysburg where I drove past the battlefield and had a late lunch at the Lincoln Diner, right in the center of town. I enjoyed my pizza burger and fries. This is quite an attractive diner and has a dining room built onto the back if one prefers a non-smoking environment. I then headed home via Route 15. All in all it was a fun day.

Brian Butko reports about the oldest bridge on the
LH:

A new report does not bode well for what is perhaps the oldest bridge on the Lincoln Highway, but you can email words of support.

The bridge over Poquessing Creek, at the border of Philadelphia and Bucks Counties, PA, was built in 1805 for the Byberry- Bensalem Turnpike, and improved in 1917 as Lincoln Highway traffic began to overwhelm it. Since busy Roosevelt Boulevard bypassed it in 1921, it has slipped into oblivion, leaving it a very rare remnant in a very urban environment (right behind a Lincoln Motel). The bridge leads into Benjamin Rush State Park but straddling the county line has led to unclear ownership and lack of upkeep.

The report cataloged and ranked 125 Philadelphia-area stone arch bridges, which is the problem – unlike some, the Poquessing Creek Bridge is not needed for traffic, and is not eligible for listing on the National Register because of scouring (the undermining and deterioration of the base due to water erosion), making it “not a strong candidate for preservation.” It is ranked 62, but only about 40 bridges will receive any maintenance or preservation.

Former LHA state director John Harman, who talked with the consultant, reports:

The bridge is artificially ranked as high as it is (right in the middle of the 125 bridges) because of its historic value associated with the Lincoln Highway. Otherwise, it would be lower. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has also recently advocated for the bridge’s preservation and higher priority status.

You can see the full Draft Management Plan at
http://www.pastonearch.org/

with details on pages 126-127, aka B44-45, but the 28MB file takes a while to download even on fast connections.

For a summary of this bridge, go to
http://www.pastonearch.org/index1.php

In the Search line, choose the county Bucks, and a map will sooncome up with a list of bridges. Click #24 PHILADELPHIA – BUCKS CO LINE. You will get a map of the bridge and an overview. Click on Report and you’ll get more info in a new window.

If you’d like to send comments, go back to the main page http://www.pastonearch.org/ and click “Your Comments/Contact Us.”

Let officials know this is an extremely rare and prized resource of the Lincoln Highway, especially in the eastern half of the U.S. As interest in the route increases, it will draw visitors from around the world much as bridges do elsewhere on the Lincoln Highway and Route 66.

Also some photos and info here:

http://www.amusementparknostalgia.com/lincoln.html

http://www.friendsofpoquessing.org/pathfinder/pathfinderv13i1.html

From Philly.com comes a review of the Puerto Rican restaurant Red Rice and Beans Cafeon the Lincoln Highway in
Coatesville, PA:
http://xrl.us/2s9m
[Sounds like my kind of place!]

Another article about Laurie Conrad‘s Ship Hotel play — On the Deck of the Ship Hotel:
http://xrl.us/2tci

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette comes an article about the 18th century Forbes Trail – Retracing the trail to Forks of the Ohio:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07133/785046-243.stm

Denny Gibson comments about the article: “Early in the article they mentions a Forbes Road marker at Penn & Linden that the Lincoln [Highway] definitely ran past on Penn. It may also have been US-30 at some point but I don’t know. I know there are some places further east where Forbes, Lincoln, & US-30 all followed the same path.”

Brian Butko then reports, “I’m editing an article (for Western PA History magazine) right now on exactly this topic. The planned driving guidewill really help those retracing for the Forbes Road, which is often far off-road. Although the Lincoln Highway follows it in spirit, they’re rarely the exact same path, though a few old inns still line the Lincoln. US 30 in western PA follows the Lincoln except where the route has been shortened, mostly around towns like Bedford, Stoystown, Ligonier, and Greensburg.”

The P-G article doesn’t mention that protesting the Forbes Road route was 26-yr-old George Washington, who wanted to see Braddock’s Road reused. (It had been carved in the first attempt to oust the French in 1755.) That would become the National Road/US 40 – Washington’s interest was that it gave his Virginia colony easier access to frontier lands to invest in.

The Forks of the Ohio is where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meet to form the Ohio. It was the site of French Fort Duquesne, and after Forbes’ 1758 mission, Fort Pitt, now Pittsburgh. That’s why the main drag in Bedford and Greensburg (later the Lincoln Highway) is named Pitt Street — they’re on the road (Forbes Road) that went to Fort Pitt, now Pittsburgh. Make sense??

These two forts at the forks were at Pittsburgh’s present-day Point State Park. As mentioned by RoadDog, the first evidence of the French Fort Duquesne was just found, but Pittsburgh will be re-burying it – they want to make the park event-friendly!
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07136/786274-53.stm

From the Tribune-Review, a story about the Ligonier, PA home tour:
http://xrl.us/2tee