Breaking the Appalachian Barrier

In 1750 the Appalachian Mountains were both a border and formidable barrier between the English on the east and the French in the west. In 1751 a private Virginia company saw an opportunity in Ohio and pioneered a road from Maryland to Ohio; the stone-paved Cumberland Road from Cumberland, Maryland to Wheeling, Virginia was complete by 1818 and saw its heyday over the next thirty years.