Poking Around in Pennsylvania

Bedford Highways and the
Museum of Roadside Lodging
by Craig Mains

When Chain-Wen was working in Bedford, Pa., I would drive her up and stay with her in Bedford for the week she worked. After dropping her off at the hospital each morning I would usually spend the day hiking around somewhere. It was the start of the covid pandemic and places like the public library and coffeeshops were closed. Fortunately, Bedford County had lots of places to hike. Because it's in the Ridge and Valley province there were often trails along the ridgetops, which were mostly level.

I realized that for a mostly rural county, Bedford has a played a surprisingly large role in regional transportation history, mainly due to some features of the local geology. The ridges of the Appalachian Mountains run in an arc in a southwest-northeast direction through central Pennsylvania. This has long made travel between eastern and western parts of the state difficult.

In Bedford County, however, there are gaps through the ridges that make going up and down the ridges unnecessary, providing a clear advantage to traveling through Bedford County. From the earliest east-west roads in the area, which were the foot trails of Indians and wood buffalo, to the latest interstate highways, all have taken the path of least resistance through the gaps.

The part about the Museum of Roadside Lodging started out as a joke. I had described some of my Bedford hikes to a friend in Morgantown and he suggested that he might drive up and spend a day hiking with me. He asked if there was much in the way of lodging in Bedford and I jokingly told him it was a veritable museum of roadside lodging. I came to realize that that was actually true. Regional transporation historians have divided road building in Bedford County into six eras. [1] Along with the different generations of road building came the need for lodging for travelers. Surprisingly, some representatives of roadside lodging for the different eras of travel have survived in Bedford County.

Early Trails
Europeans were present in the Bedford area and around the forks of the Ohio River (present-day Pittsburgh) as early as 1715. Early trails were suitable for horseback and packhorses but not wagons. The Raystown Path connected John Ray's trading post at present-day Bedford with points to the east. A network of Indian trails extended to the forks of the Ohio to the west.

The location of these trails was fluid and shifted in response to changes in the landscape due to new obstacles such as rockslides, downed timber, or flooded areas resulting from beaver dams. Trails were simply relocated to go around obstacles.

Click/tap map for a larger image

Part of a 1776 map of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has the distinct problem of being a rectangular state with its two largest cities sitting on opposite ends of the rectangle. In between is a series of mountain ridges running roughly southwest to northeast. Any travel between eastern and western parts of the state means going against the grain of the mountains. Even though the ridges are not all that high---in Bedford County they are only about 900 feet higher than the valley floors---they can be steep and there are a lot of them. For centuries they have imposed a barrier between the eastern and western halves of the state. Even today, people from western Pa. are notoriously ignorant about the geography of eastern Pa., and vice versa. In 1776, trails in the Bedford area took advantage of the Alliquippa Gap near present day Everett and the Narrows Gap near Bedford. Also, Will's Mountain, which runs uninterrupted north from Cumberland, Md, ends just west of Bedford. In about 20 miles, by passing through two gaps and making a slight arcing detour around the northern end of Will's Mountain the traveller avoids climbing up and down over three ridges. Modern highways follow the same route as the 1776 traveller.

Military Roads
In the 1700s the British and the French competed for control of the land west of the Appalachian Mountains. The Ohio Company, based in Virginia, surveyed and cut a pack trail from Will's Creek (present-day Cumberland, Md) to the forks of the Ohio to trade with Indians. For the most part, the trail followed the course of an existing Indian trail. In 1754, the French built Fort Duquesne at the forks and took control of the area, interrupting the developing commerce of the Ohio Company.

In July 1755, in an effort to retake control of the forks, the British, under General Edward Braddock, improved much of the Ohio Company trail from Will's Creek to the forks of the Ohio into a rough road suitable for moving troops and military supplies. Simultaneously, Braddock ordered another, more northern, trail from Raystown (present-day Bedford) to the forks to be similarly improved. This improved road was often called Burd's Road after Colonel James Burd, the army engineer charged with widening the existing trail.

Before the road from Raystown was completed, however, Braddock moved on Fort Duquesne. About 10 miles from Fort Duquesne the French and their Indian allies ambushed and defeated Braddock's forces. Out of about 1500 soldiers and support personnel, 456 were killed, including Braddock. The remainder of the forces, including 451 wounded, retreated. The French and their Indian allies, using guerilla tactics, suffered minimal losses. One of the survivors of the catatastrophe was George Washington, who got some credit for organizing the retreat.

As part of the continuing war effort to reclaim the forks of the Ohio, General John Forbes was placed in charge of the British and colonial forces in a large area that included Raystown. In 1758, Forbes' assistant, Henry Bouquet, a Swiss mercenary, ordered a series of forts built, including one at Raystown to be called Fort Bedford. He also ordered an extension of Burd's Road, which had been completed as far as the crest of the Allegheny Front but had been neglected after Braddock's defeat. Burd was again placed in charge of upgrading the trail.

Despite the defeat of a large reconnaisance force sent by Bouquet, the French decided that Fort Duquesne was indefensible and abandoned it, burning it before leaving. The British claimed the point at the confluence of the forks and built a new fort called Fort Pitt after the British Prime Minister.

In 1763, as part of the Treaty of Paris that ended the war, the British issued a proclamation that lands west of the Allegheny Front were to be reserved for Indians, some of which had fought on the side of the British and Colonials. According to the treaty, no permanent non-native settlements were allowed in the western country although trading was permitted. The proclamation was widely ignored, however, and many colonial soldiers claimed land along Burd's road west of the Allegheny Front as payment for their war service. Washington, believing the proclamation to be temporary, claimed hundreds of acres in western Pennsylvania. Although it was primitive there was now for the first a somewhat improved road running from Philadelphia to what would become Pittsburgh. It became widely known as the Forbes Road.

Map showing both Braddock's and Forbes' Roads. The proposed extension of the Forbes' Road from Bedford to the forks of the Ohio was contentious. George Washington was opposed to construction of the road for personal reasons. He had family connections to the Ohio Company, as his two half-brothers were among the founding members. Washington was aware of the rich resources of the land to the west and wanted to ensure that, in the future, the riches would travel back along Braddock's Road, which led eventually to northern Virginia. He foresaw that if Forbes' Road was constructed, at least some of the goods would go to Philadelphia instead, benefitting Pennsylvania instead of Virginia and his relatives. He lobbied against construction of Forbes' Road but was overruled by Bouquet. It was an early American example of personal self-interest conflicting with military strategy.

The Jean Bonnet Tavern west of Bedford. It served as a tavern, hotel, and stage coach stop since about 1762 (although that date may refer to when the property was bought by the person who built the tavern, not the actual date of construction). It was also known at times as the Forks Inn. "Forks" referred to the tavern sitting at a fork in the road. The right fork, heading west, was Forbes Road, leading toward Fort Pitt. The left fork was called the Turkeyfoot Road and led toward the Turkeyfoot (present-day Confluence, PA). The Turkeyfoot was where three headwater tributaries of the Youghiogheny River joined at a single point to form the Yough. The drainage pattern was thought to resemble a turkeyfoot. In the days before bridges, it was a convenient place to ford the Yough before it got too big. The Jean Bonnet Tavern still sits at the same fork in the road. US route 30 is to the right and state route 31 is to the left.

The tavern was a meeting site for insurrectionists during the Whiskey Rebellion. One of the symbols of the Whiskey Rebellion was the "liberty pole," which was a long pole cut from a tree with all its branches and bark removed. Reportedly, a liberty pole was erected outside of the tavern. in 1794, George Washington made a point of resting his troops there to send a message to the rebels, who had conveniently made themselves scarce. It was the only time a sitting president personally led troops against American citizens. [2]

Today, the Jean Bonnet Tavern is a rather upscale Bed and Breakfast and restaurant. I've seen claims that it is the oldest continuously operating restaurant in Pennsylvania, although not by the same family. It is no longer owned by the Bonnet family. The restaurant continued to operate during the pandemic and always appeared to be busy the few times I drove by. The tents are to help with social distancing.

The Pennsylvania Road
Forbes Road became the main route for travel between eastern and western Pennsylvania. Lacking regular maintenance however it gradually fell into disrepair and began to resemble the foot trail from which it originated. The road was re-improved in 1773 from Bedford to Fort Pitt. In some cases the road was rerouted, leaving disconnected orphan sections of the original road. Over time it became impossible to know exactly where much of the original route of Forbes Road ran.

In 1785, the Pennsylvania legislature, recognizing the importance of the road to intrastate travel and commerce, appointed a commission to lay out an improved road roughly following the route of Forbes Road. The improved road, which became commonly known as the Pennsylvania Road was completed in 1791. It covered 297 miles, connecting Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The "improved" surface was composed of rough rocks and dirt and would probably be considered the equivalent of a jeep trail by today's standards. The legislature did not appropriate enough funds to build the road to the original design standards so the road was not always wide enough, especially in mountainous areas, for two-way wagon traffic.

In 1794 president George Washington personally led roughly 13,000 troops down the Pennsylvania Road to put down the Whiskey Rebellion, stopping briefly in Bedford. The rebels melted into the hills in advance of the troops. Very few insurrectionists were captured and even fewer were convicted as no one would testify against them. Washington was given credit for squelching the rebellion, even though farmers largely continued to evade paying the whiskey tax after the expedition.

This former inn and stagecoach stop, built in 1772, is now the offices for the Shawnee Sleepy Hollow Campground, a private campground close to Shawnee State Park. The state park was named for a Shawnee encampment near present-day Schellsburg. On the 1776 map shown previously, the encampment is labelled as "Shawanese Cabbins." These would not have been cabins as we think of them but rather bark-covered huts. It is not clear how long the Shawnee stayed in Bedford County but it probably wasn't long. They were in the process of moving from the east where they had conflicts with white settlers and were on their way further west. They probably didn't tarry long in an area where white people were already pretty well dug in. Despite their brief stay, the Shawnee must have made a lasting impression on the people of the county as a number of businesses use Shawnee in their name including Shawnee Vinyl Siding (We do it right the first time!), Shawnee Soft Serve Ice Cream (Open Year Round!), and Shawnee Motel (Our Family Welcomes You.).

The road in front of the building is an orphan section of old US 30, abandoned during one of the improvement projects.

For more than 150 years Conestoga wagons were a common vehicle for moving freight on the Pennsylvania Road. The term comes from the Conestoga area of Lancaster County, Pa., where, as early as 1717, German and Swiss farmers began redesigning existing farm wagons for long haul freight over rough roads. They enlarged the wheels for fording streams and to minimize bouncing. The upturned ends of the wagon bed helped prevent cargo from being bounced out. The average length was about 18 feet and the bed width was four feet. They could carry up to 12,000 pounds of cargo. The wagons were considered a masterpiece of wood working and blacksmithing. The makers used different types of wood depending on the component of the wagon. The wagon in the picture above was built in 1795 and was still in use in 1910 when the photo was taken.

The German farmers also bred a Conestoga horse specifically for pulling the wagons. It was a muscular horse similar to those in the picture but not as large as the biggest draft horses. The wagons were pulled by teams of six to eight horses.

The wagoner or teamster did not ride at the front of the wagon but instead walked along the side of the wagon where he had access to the hand brake on the rear wheels. On flat or uphill stretches when braking wasn't needed the wagoner might ride one of the horses or sit on a pull-out seat at the side of the wagon. Conestoga wagons were the trailer trucks of their day. They were so common that there were enough teamsters to have some political influence in the state and in 1835 they helped elect a former teamster, Joseph "Wagon Boy" Ritner as governor. Although ultimately unsuccessful, teamsters lobbied against the railroads, which eventually killed the wagon industry. When the Conestoga wagon disappeared, so did the Conestoga horse, which no longer exists as a breed.

The Defibaugh Tavern, built in 1785, catered mostly to teamsters and livestock drovers. Because teamsters and drovers were usually a crude bunch it was understandable that people traveling by stage coach might not want to share lodging with them. Most inns, including the Defibaugh Tavern, were sited near a spring that could be used to water horses. The Defibaugh Tavern was also sometimes known as The Willows for a willow grove that grew there. There is now a commercial plaza across the highway called Willow Grove (although there are no willows to be seen). The white siding on the front part of the building covers a log structure. The stone wing in the back was added later. Besides the tavern there is an old barn on the property dating back to when the inn was in business. At one time, the tavern was said to be so busy that, in the warmer months, people laid out blankets and slept on the porches and balconies.

Another view of the Defibaugh Tavern. Like the Jean Bonnet Tavern, the Defibaugh Tavern was reportedly a gathering place for local Whiskey Rebels. Because teamsters and drovers were on the road all day, inn keepers were expected to be able to fill them in on the latest news. News traveled slowly then so the "latest news" was a relative term. Inn keepers would usually subscribe to newspapers that they would often read to groups of teamsters or drovers, many of who were, at best, minimally literate. Because they were expected to be up on the news, inn keepers often had strong political opinions.

Besides the road running east and west there was also a main road running north and south through Bedford County, although is was not as heavily traveled. It ran south to Cumberland, Maryland and north toward present-day Altoona. That road eventually became the Bedford-Holidaysburg Turnpike, then later US route 220, and eventually I-99. This stone house sits along an orphan remnant of one of the earlier roads running north of Bedford.

Not much information is available about the building. I emailed the Bedford County Historical Society but they told me they had never researched it (but would for a fee). The front door of the building was open when I visited and although I didn't enter, I was able to poke my head in and look around. The room to the immediate left of the door had what looked like a bar-type counter so it is possible the building was an old tavern. Besides stops for stages, teamsters, and drovers, there were also local taverns known as taphouses that had less services for travelers but provided some overnight lodging, usually on the rough side. I suspect that this building may have been a roadside taphouse. It didn't seem to be laid out like a residence. There was a ground-level room on the uphill side that only opened to the outside and looked like it could have been used to stable a horse or two.

The building and its little fragment of roadway sits next to US business route 220 north of Bedford. Because the building sits back among some trees and is ivy covered, in the summer it is practically invisble from 220.

Turnpike Corporations
Around 1800, private turnpike corporations began to emerge as a way to improve and maintain roadways. Turnpike companies were stock-financed corporations that were intended to turn a profit and pay dividends, although few were ever profitable. They were viewed as a way to improve roads in an era when state and local governments didn't have the funds or capability to manage roads. Turnpike companies were common in northeastern and mid-Atlantic states including Pennsylvania. Between 1792 and 1845, 342 turnpike companies were incorporated in Pennsylvania, although not all of them became active.

The Pennsylvania State government invested in and regulated turnpike companies, an early example of public-private partnerships. However, more than half of the stock was sold to private investors. Most investors reportedly were aware that the companies were unlikely to be profitable but felt their communities would benefit nevertheless through better roads, expanded commercial opportunies, and increased property values.

The road from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh was divided among five separate turnpike companies. The Chambersburg and Bedford Turnpike Company operated a segment that ran from Chambersburg, ending at the intersection of Pitt and Juliana Streets in Bedford. The Bedford and Stoystown Turnpike Company operated the toll road to the west from that point. Turnpike companies had to negotiate charters with the state that covered issues such as toll charges (often based on type and size of wagon, type of cargo etc.) and the spacing of toll houses (no more than one every 5 to 10 miles). Exemptions to tolls were often written into the charters and included waiving tolls for family business, town meetings, funerals, and church services.

The turnpike companies, at least early on, did manage to improve road conditions. Rough surface cobble and dirt roads were replaced with macadam consisting of layers of crushed rocks. A layer of larger rocks were placed on the bottom with a layer of medium sized rocks and then gravel on top. The rock layers, in total about one foot thick, became compacted with use. Drainage was improved, the road bed was widened and, in some cases, the route was reconfigured to minimize steep grades and sharp curves. With improved road surfaces, traffic increased. By 1804 passenger stage coach service was established between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. By 1828 stage coaches departed daily.

Generally, due to the improved road conditions, the public seemed to support the turnpike companies but this was not always true. In Bedford County, farmers in the Snake Spring Valley had an antagonistic relationship with the company, which did not seem to grant as many toll exemptions as other companies. The Chambersburg and Bedford Turnpike Company placed their tollhouses in the gaps of the ridges making it difficult to evade them and they charged the farmers a toll for every trip into town. A group of farmers called the White Caps had an ongoing conflict with the turnpike company ultimately resulting in the burning of the turnpike bridge spanning the Raystown Branch of the Juniata River.

The heyday of the private turnpike companies was from 1800 to about 1830. Beginning about 1830, competition from canals and railroads, which received state subsidies, began draining traffic from turnpikes. Because Bedford County never had any canals and had no railroads until around the Civil War, the turnpike continued to be locally important, although maintenance declined.

By the turn of the century, for various reasons, public acceptance of turnpike companies was waning. Due in part to neglect of road maintenance, in 1903 the state condemned and took possession of the Chambersburg and Bedford Turnpike. Two years later the state established the Pennsylvania Department of Highways. In 1911 the state passed legislation to buy out all turnpike companies and place the former turnpike roadways under state control.

Photo of tollgate on the Chambersburg and Bedford Turnpike east of Bedford. It appears to be in the Narrows of the Raystown Branch

The Juniata Crossings Tavern was completed in 1818 and served as a stage coach stop on the Chambersburg and Bedford Turnpike. It is located a couple miles west of Breezewood. It was also known at times as the Dennison Tavern. This photo shows the front of the building and the road shown is the original route of the Pennsylvania Road. In 1931 the Pennsylvania Dept. of Highways rerouted what was by then US Route 30 to the opposite side of the building. Traveling on Route 30 today, what appears to be the front of the building is actually what was originally the back of the building. The attic dormer was added and the porches expanded in 1920. After sitting empty for some years the 28-room building has more recently served as an antiques store and is currently a "country mercantile" shop, which seems to be some kind of a gift shop. It wasn't open when I stopped by.

This postcard photo was taken sometime between 1913 (when the Lincoln Highway Assn. formed) and 1920 (when the dormer was added). Note the Lincoln Highway symbol on the phone/telegraph pole. On the right is the entrance to the two-lane covered bridge over the Raystown Branch of the Juniata, which was also completed in 1818. It replaced a bridge built in 1811. Prior to that a ferry operated at the crossing, although it was likely possible to ford the stream for much of the year. Abraham Lincoln and P.T. Barnum are said to have spent a night at the inn---although, regrettably, not at the same time. The postcard says the tavern was built in 1816 but most articles I've read say it was completed in 1818.

An old postcard view of the two-lane covered bridge at Juniata Crossings. It was quite long because it crossed the stream at an angle and because it was raised to maintain a gentle slope. When P.T. Barnum visited on a publicity tour he was accompanied by his extra large elephant, Jumbo, who walked across the bridge. The bridge was in use up until 1931 when the state rerouted what was by then the Lincoln Highway and built a new bridge over the Raystown Branch. The covered bridge was washed away in the St. Patrick's Day Flood of 1936. Remnants of some of the bridge piers are still visible.

Shown above is what was once the La Palace Hotel on Main Street in Everett. I could not find information on when it was built but it was in operation in 1897 and would likely have been in operation at least during the end of the private turnpike company era. The Chambersburg and Bedford Turnpike would have run through downtown Everett. At one time the manager maintained a pond behind the hotel to provide bait for guests who wished to fish in the Raystown Branch. During the 1936 St. Patrick's Day Flood, water rose about three quarters way up the first story. Everett now has a levee to prevent similar events. The building currently is in business as Hockenberry's Juniata Hotel. It does seem possible to spend the night but it appears that the bar is likely the primary source of revenue.

The Union Hotel, also on Main Street in Everett. The date on the crest of the building says 1802 but the building appears newer than that to me. It is possible that this building replaced a previous Union Hotel that was built in 1802, perhaps at the same site. This building sat empty and neglected for many years but was recently renovated and reopened as a hotel and restaurant. The owners couldn't keep it going though and the building is again empty and for sale. Since the 1970s, when a by-pass was built around Everett, there is not much traffic on Main Street other than local traffic. It would be a huge challenge to keep a hotel/restaurant going in Everett.

The Union Hotel, also on Main Street in Everett. The date on the crest of the building says 1802 but the building appears newer than that to me. It is possible that this building replaced a previous Union Hotel that was built in 1802, perhaps at the same site. This building sat empty and neglected for many years but was recently renovated and reopened as a hotel and restaurant. The owners couldn't keep it going though and the building is again empty and for sale. Since the 1970s, when a by-pass was built around Everett, there is not much traffic on Main Street other than local traffic. It would be a huge challenge to keep a hotel/restaurant going in Everett.

Old painted Bull Durham advertisement on the alley side of the Union Hotel in Bedford. The lettering at the bottom reads "Standard of the World."

The Lincoln Highway
The end of the era of private turnpike companies in Pennsylvania coincided with the blossoming of the automobile era. Car ownership was becoming popular but interstate car travel was still difficult and rare. In 1913 a group of industrialists and auto enthusiasts met in Detroit to form the Lincoln Highway Association. They represented all aspects of the auto industry, including auto and tire manufacturers, oil and gas retailers, and the road construction materials sector. Their goal was to promote the idea of recreational motoring in order to sell more of their products. In pursuit of that goal they proposed the idea of an improved coast-to-coast highway that would be called the Lincoln Highway.

The Lincoln Highway Association didn't build any highways. Instead they marked and promoted a coast-to-coast highway from existing road segments. The federal government, at that time, was unwilling to fund interstate highways so, where roads were substandard, the association lobbied state governments to upgrade roads that would be part of the Lincoln Highway. In Pennsylvania, the Lincoln Highway roughly followed the route of the old Pennsylvania Road. The biggest difference was that the Pennsylvania Road and the private turnpikes went through Harrisburg, while the Lincoln Highway took a more southernly route through Gettysburg. From Bedford to Pittsburgh the Lincoln Highway followed the approximate route of the old Forbes Road. The Lincoln Highway eventually stretched from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco.

To the mark the route, the Lincoln Highway Association painted their symbol on utility poles and other available surfaces. It consisted of a blue letter L on a white background, with a red band above and a blue band below. Directional arrows were added as needed. Because of the Lincoln Highway Association's success in promoting roadside commerce, similar highway associations sprang up promoting other routes, with their own symbols. The promotional efforts of the various highway associations are credited with popularizing artifacts of auto culture such as roadside motels, restaurants, cheesy tourist attractions, and even gasoline stations. Previously, motorists bought gasoline in refillable containers at hardware and general stores.

In 1919, the Pennsylvania Department of Highways began paving the entire 360-mile route of the Lincoln Highway across Pennsylvania. A few year later, for the first time, there was a concrete highway from one end of the state to the other. A trip that once took weeks, now took two or three days. In 1924 the state designated the border-toborder route of the Lincoln Highway as Pennsylvania Route 1.

In 1925, The US Bureau of Public Roads began instituting a nationwide system of numbered highways and Lincoln Highway markers became obsolete. The Lincoln Highway/Pa. Route 1 between the West Virginia border and Philadelphia became US Route 30. With some minor deviations, US Route 30 basically followed the route of the Lincoln Highway in Pennsylvania. Nationally, Route 30 is still a coast-to-coast highway, although it runs concurrently with Interstate highways in long stretches. The termini however have changed---currently it starts in Atlantic City, NJ and ends in Astoria, OR.

A 1924 Lincoln Highway Association map showing the route of the highway in western Pennsylvania. The route roughly follows that of the old Forbes Road. Forbes Road was never precisely mapped so its exact location in many places is unknown.

Although US Route 30 follows the same approximate route of the Lincoln Highway (and earlier roads), there have been numerous upgrades to minimize sharp curves and steep grades and to add passing and turning lanes. These upgrades have often resulted in abandoned sections of the old highway. This orphan segment of the old Lincoln Highway above is east of Bedford. Current US Route 30 is visible on the right. It is now a five-lane highway in this stretch consisting of two lanes in each direction and a turning lane in the middle.

The former Lincoln Hotel sits right beside US Route 30 west of Bedford. Not much information is available on when it was built or how long it operated as a hotel. It is more well known for being a brothel for many years. Reportedly, there were a number of small rooms on the second floor for the higher priced women. There were additional women working in the attic in enclosures separted only by sheets or curtains. Most recently it was a flea market/antiques store. Like many places in Bedford County, it is supposedly haunted---in this case by one of the sex workers who was murdered in the building. I read that at one point there was a full-sized steam locomotive engine sitting behind the building. It is no longer there. The building is currently empty.

The Lincoln Motor Court sits directly across the highway from the former Lincoln Hotel. It was built sometime between 1938 and 1944---I've seen various conflicting dates. It consists of 12 "tourist cabins." These types of tourist cabins were popular in the 1920s through the 1950s before motels offering more amenities began to spring up. The current owners have operated the motor court since 1988.

The Lincoln Motor Court claims to be the only surviving operating set of original tourist cabins along the original route of the Lincoln Highway. At one time there were likely several hundred of them. In Bedford County alone there were said to be 13 similar operations. One of the reasons probably few survive is that they generally weren't built to very high standards. The current owners are fighting a never-ending battle to keep them maintained in a condition close to the original.

When they bought the cabins in the 1980s the current owners were, I've read, not too thrilled about the fake brick siding but felt obligated to keep it since it was original. That type of siding was produced by various companies from the 1930s until the early 1960s under names such as Insul Brick, Insul Stone, and Insel Brick. The siding, which was similar in composition to roofing shingles, was produced in two foot by three foot rectangles with tongue-in-groove edges. When aluminum siding appeared in the early 1960s builders quit using them. Since it hasn't been produced in decades, it is almost impossible to replace any of it that becomes damaged or deteriorated. There are still many buildings scattered around with Insul Brick siding. Once you start thinking about it, the more you see. Because they're usually on older, often deteriorating buildings the siding is sometimes referred to a 'ghetto brick.'

The current owners were very friendly. When I asked if I could take some photos they directed me to one of the cabins that was unoccupied and unlocked so I could go poke around inside. They have made a valiant attempt to keep everything as close as possible to what you would have found in the 1940s. There are no TVs, phones, air conditioners, microwave ovens, or wifi service to shatter the illusion. The tiny bathrooms still have what look to be the original fixtures. They had some vintage magazines from the 1940s on the nightstand.

The Lincoln Motor Court is the only operating set of tourist cabins in Bedford County but there is at least one other set that is still surviving that I was able to find. This set of six plus the original office is along Route 30 east of Schellsburg. Because Bedford County is agricultural, the former tourist cabins were sometimes repurposed as shelters for migrant farm workers. These cabins appeared to be occupied although I didn't see anyone about. I would have loved to have seen inside to see how they were laid out. I suspect they have an upstairs attic sleeping loft.

The Carolyn Courts Motel is on the corner of West Main St. and South Spring St. in Everett. West Main Street would have been along the route of the Lincoln Highway and earlier roads. The motel looks like it was built in the late 1950s or early 1960s. Carolyn Courts is still operating as a motel although there is a by-pass around Everett today so it doesn't get much traveler traffic. It looks like the motel now is mostly long-term housing for low-income people.

I found this old neon sign to be more interesting than the building. Although neon signs are still being made, the heyday of neon lighting was from the 1920s to the 1960s. There was something of an art to making neon signs, especially ones that used flowing script like this one. The glass tubes had to be heated and bent to form the lettering and at one time many people worked as skilled tube benders. I don't know if this sign still lights up---the only time I happened to be in Everett after dark I forgot to check.

Another sign of the times. This huge relic sign was for a motel north of Bedford that has been repurposed into offices and apartments. It had the added attraction of being connected to a roller skating rink, which is still there but is either defunct or closed during the covid pandemic.

These types of signs, which I remember from my 1950s and 60s childhood, were used to subtly draw the attention of passing motorists. The many tiny bulbs either blinked on and off at one time or flashed in sequence, sometimes both.

I debated whether to include the Grand View Ship Hotel since it no longer exists but couldn't bring myself to leave it out. The building was first built in 1927 by Herbert Paulsen. It originally was built to resemble a castle but was renovated in 1932 to look like a ship. It was built on the edge of the Allegheny Front to take advantage of the view to the east to lure in customers.

What is not shown is that, being built on the edge of an escarpment, there were two on three floors below those shown here that fronted the opposite side of the building. These floors were where the hotel rooms were located. The Paulsens would hire college students for the busy summer season and put them up in rooms on the bottom floor of the structure, which they jokingly referred to as "steerage."

Besides the hotel, the building had a full-scale restaurant and a large souvenir shop. The observation decks were open to the public for free but you couldn't get to and from them without passing through the souvenir shop, which made more money for the owners than either the hotel or the restaurant. I remember stopping at the hotel as a kid with my family once in the 1960s. The Paulsen family operated the hotel until the late 1970s. It burned to the ground in 2001 when a fire, presumed to be set by squatters to stay warm, got out of control.

There is not much evidence remaining that the hotel ever existed. Besides this retaining wall there are some twisted steel beams that had been installed vertically into the mountainside to anchor the vessel to the edge of the escarpment.

The view today looking east along US Route 30 from where the ship was once moored. The lake in the distance is the man-made lake at Shawnee State Park, where the "Shawanese cabbins" once sat. The mountain on the right is Kinton Knob at the northern end of Will's Mountain

The Pennsylvania Turnpike
A second era of turnpike travel began in Pennsylvania in 1940. The major difference was that the newer turnpike was built and operated by the state rather than private companies. Construction began in 1938 with federal funding for both construction and labor, which was mainly through depression-era relief programs. The route, which paralleled US Route 30, followed the right-of-way of the South Penn Railroad, which had begun construction at the end of the 19th century and then folded before completion. The right-of-way, however, did include a series of nine completed tunnels through multiple ridges that were conveniently repurposed for the turnpike.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike opened in 1940 from Irwin to Carlisle, a distance of about 160 miles, which included Bedford County. It was one of the country's first limited-access highways. World War II interrupted construction and it was not until 1960 that the full length of the trunk line from the western border to the eastern border was completed. A person could then drive from border to border in Pennsylvania with no traffic lights, no at-grade intersections, or railroad crossings. Maximum grades were 3% on the turnpike compared to 9% on the Lincoln Highway. Travel times between cities were reduced by almost 40 percent. The Pa. Turnpike, which was hailed as a 31 modern miracle when it opened, became the model for the Interstate Highways that would follow. The Pa. Turnpike was eventually incorporated into the interstate system and the main east-west route became I-76.

Two turnpike interchanges were built in Bedford County, one at Bedford and one at Breezewood. Breezewood, which was on the Lincoln Highway/Rt. 30, already had an established cluster of auto related businesses---gas stations, restaurants, and motels. But with a new turnpike interchange commerce expanded. Breezewood, in the 1960s, was known as the City of Motels because of the number of motels and because there was no real downtown and very few permanent residences. Almost all the people who worked in the Breezewood businesses drove in from the surrounding area.

Not everyone was thrilled with the new turnpike though. Merchants along Route 30 were unhappy that the turnpike was siphoning off the bulk of cross-state travellers. They successfully lobbied the state to upgrade Route 30 as an alternative toll-free route across southern Pennsylvania. During the 1960s and 70s the state once again made major improvements on the route, widening the road, reducing curves and steep grades, and constructing by-passes around towns and cities, including Bedford and Everett.

An old postcard view of the turnpike and the gap in Tussey Mountain near Everett. While the turnpike and Route 30 run sort of parallel to each other they rarely run side by side. Sometimes the turnpike is north of Route 30 and sometimes it is south but there is usually anywhere from five to 20 miles between them. The exception is in Bedford County where they are pinched together to take advantage of the natural gaps in Evitt's Mountain and Tussey Mountain just as all the previous east-west footpaths and roadways did.

The Breezewood interchange on the Pa. Turnpike is notorious as a traffic chokepoint. It has been described as "a polyp on the nation's highway system." From the interchange at New Stanton to Breezewood, I-70, a major east-west interstate, runs concurrently with I-76. At Breezewood I-76 and and I-70 separate, with I-76 continuing east toward Philadelphia and I-70 bending southeast toward DC and Baltimore. Any I-70 traffic entering or exiting the turnpike is forced to drive through the business strip of Breezewood. Because of the heavy volume of I-70 traffic and the two sets of traffic lights, traffic snarls are frequent. Traffic jams are especially bad on summer weekends.

At the time of construction this type of configuration was required by the federal government. It was felt at the time that motorists should not blend seamlessly from a non-toll road onto a toll road since some might be unaware of the difference. That is no longer a requirement and most states have reconfigured interstates to allow direct merging of toll and non-toll interstates. But, not at Breezewood. The entire volume of I-70 is dumped onto a quarter mile section of US 30 only to get back onto I-70. There have been a number of attempts to reconfigure the interchange, one led by an exasperated out-of-state Congressman who got caught in the bottleneck. All have failed. The traveler's "oasis" of hotels, restaurants, truck stops, and gas stations is too much of a cash cow to abandon. County and state politicians have successfully opposed all efforts at reconfiguration.

The 2008 photo of Breezewood above is from professional photographer Edward Burtynsky. His images are meant as "metaphors to the dilemma of our modern existence," which seems appropriate in Breezewood.

One of the older motels in the city of motels is the Breezewood Motel, now under new management and rechristened as the Sonrise Inn. Most of the earlier independent motels have been forced out of business by the bigger national motel chains but a few, such as this one, hang on as bargain motels.

The woman on the left is the manager who was on her way to find out why I was taking photos of her motel. Once I convinced her that I was not some kind of code enforcement officer but was instead, um, an aficionado of roadside lodging we had a very pleasant conversation. She said she had moved to the area recently from Massachusetts to take over management of the motel and was working to improve it while still keeping it affordable.

Another view of the Breezewood Motel/Sonrise Inn. Although it's not posted, a single was about $45 at the time. The motel was built in the mid-1960s.

One of the few other non-chain motels surviving in Breezewood was the Wiltshire Motel.

The Wiltshire was built in the late 1950s or early 1960s. The owner of the Wiltshire got good reviews online for his friendliness and willingness to open rooms up for travelers at late hours. The owner has a side gig selling kits to build carports, which explains the display shelter over the pickup truck.

It has been said that 1000 people work in Breezewood everyday but no one lives there. That is not entirely true. There are a handful of houses, a couple of which can be seen on the hill behind the Wiltshire. There is also a church, a post office, a bank, a Dollar General, and an elementary school.

One of the aesthetic drawbacks of the Wiltshire is that it faces the backside of the Breezewood Motel/Sonrise Inn, which is a plain concrete block wall, with no windows, but with a dozens of air conditioner units jutting out of it.

One of the mainstay motels in Breezewood for many years was the Penn Aire. This postcard shows the Penn Aire in its heyday in the 1960s. The sign shown in the inset on the top right does not appear to have survived.

The Penn Aire today. It closed in 2001

Another postcard of the Penn Aire. The kidney-shaped pool shown on the upper left is still there, now looking rather forlorn. Superior Motels were not a chain of corporate motels, but rather a referral chain of independently owned motels. At one time there were more than 500 Superior Motels, mostly on the east coast. Superior had a set of standards that each member motel had to meet. Member motels benefitted by being part of a network, being able to display the cloverleaf Superior Motel sign, and being included in a directory of Superior Motels. The Superior organization was started in 1950 and went out of business in 1979.

The Penn Aire sign today. Ray's Hill is in the background. By Breezewood standards, traffic was exceptionally light at the moment I took this picture.

It is interesting that the Penn Aire sign survived but the Superior Motel sign has been removed. Did the Penn Aire at some point fail to meet Superior Motel standards and get defrocked and forced to remove the sign?

Although it is rarely remarked on, the Bedford interchange on Pa. Turnpike has a similar configuration as the Breezewood interchange. Motorists wanting to get off of the turnpike onto I-99 or vice versa cannot merge directly from one highway to the other. They are forced to run a commercial gauntlet on US Business Route 220 north of Bedford that is very similar to Breezewood's. The only reason Bedford's interchange doesn't generate the same level of aggravation is that I-99 is something of a secondary interstate and doesn't have anywhere near the volume of traffic as I-70. There is some congestion but backups are rare.

Like Breezewood, the motel industry at the Bedford interchange is now dominated by national chain motels. However, a few mom and pop motels, such as Judy's hang on. The sign reads "Pennsylvania Dutch Heritage." I'm not sure how that is expressed in a motel other than the handful of Dutch hex signs on the building.

Another view of Judy's motel, with Will's Mountain in the background. Online reviews of Judy's Motel were generally positive. Many people, however, commented on how tiny the bathrooms were. Having spent my childhood in a house that was also built in 1953, I am not at all surprised that the bathrooms were small.

Like Breezewood, Bedford has a couple of abandoned motels including the Hillcrest Inn shown here. It doesn't take too long for vegetation to colonize an asphalt lot. The 'Food' sign was once a neon sign but the glass tubing has been removed.

Across the highway from the old Hillcrest is this recently abandoned motel. It was a former Travelodge.

Another view of the former Travelodge on the strip between I-99 and the Pa. Turnpike. It appears to have been only recently closed.

A view of the Ray's Hill tunnel on the Pa. Turnpike at night in 1942.

As a kid in western Pa. in the 1950s and 1960s the Pa. Turnpike was still considered to be a big deal. I recall being taught in school that it was the first super-highway in the US, which was not true. Although it was one of the first, there were some earlier limited-access highways in Connecticut and New York. There were also some not-so-super bottlenecks built into the turnpike right from the beginning. The turnpike reused a series of seven boreholes to go through the north-south oriented ridges that were a barrier to east-west travel for centuries. The boreholes were left over from the old South Penn Railroad, which was started in the late 1800s but never completed. The problem with the tunnels was that they were only wide enough for two lanes, which meant they could only accomodate one lane in each direction, with no divider.

Traffic in each direction had to merge from two lanes to one and reduce speed through the tunnels. This was not much of an issue in 1942 when gas was being rationed, traffic was sparse, and a turnpike official could stand in the tunnel and have a leisurely chat with a motorist. But, by the 1950s, as traffic increased, the tunnels became choke points. The state evaluated all seven tunnels and built additional tunnels at four of them so that each of those now twin tunnels had two lanes of traffic in each direction. For the other three tunnels, including the Ray's Hill tunnel, the state determined that it was cheaper to bypass them. The new route went over Ray's Hill instead of through it.This resulted in the abandonment of a 13-mile section of the original Pa. Turnpike in 1968.

The Ray's Hill tunnel and the abandoned Pa. Turnpike today. The orphan 13-mile stretch of the Pa. Turnpike is just east of Breezewood. The Ray's Hill tunnel is 3532 feet long or about 2/3 of a mile. There is enough light coming in from each end of the tunnel that the tunnel floor is visible for about 3/4 of the walk. Only in the very middle is the floor too dark to see. The Ray's Hill tunnel is supposed to be haunted but I didn't know that at the time I walked through it so I was not predisposed to notice any spectral phenomena. The other tunnel on the abandoned section is the Sideling Hill tunnel, which is much longer at 6782 feet or about 1.3 miles.

The turnpike is the latest in a series of roads between the two largest urban areas in the state. Considering the tendency to tear down the old in this country, I was struck by how many artifacts of the earlier roads have managed to survive in Bedford County in the form of roadside lodging, signs, and orphan road segments. The past leans in everywhere, but, in some ways, it seemed more noticeable in Bedford County.

(May 2021)

Endnotes

[1] Most of the information about the various eras of roadbuilding in Bedford County was condensed from: "On The Road: Highways and History in Bedford County" by Scott D. Heberling and William M. Hunter, published in 2006 by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
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[2] The Whiskey Rebels had some legitimate grievances. They were rebelling against a newly levied excise tax on all distilled spirits, not just whiskey. The federal government and all of the states had debts related to financing the Revolutionary War. Alexander Hamilton convinced Congress to combine all state and federal debts and raise money to pay off the war debts. The whiskey tax, which Hamilton viewed as a sin tax, was one of the primary sources of revenue to pay off the war debt.

Farmers in what was then the western backcountry felt the tax was unfair. Farmers in western Pennsylvania, which in 1790 had a population of only 17,000 people, commonly distilled their grains to add value and to make them less perishable and more easily transportable. Western distillers, many of who were small farmers and often operated their stills for only part of the year, were at a disadvantage compared to large commercial distilleries in the east that were able to pay a flat tax that lowered their cost per gallon. The tax went into effect in 1791.

One of the other grievances was that many of the small farmers in the back country were Revolutionary War veterans who had never been paid for their service but had been issued what were essentially IOUs. By the 1790s many had assumed the IOUs were worthless and would never be paid. When members of Congress voted to pay off the war debt it included redeeming the IOUs at face value in silver coins. Because word travelled slowly and members of Congress had inside information some of them hurried to the western backcountry where they convinced veterans to sell their supposedly worthless IOUs at pennies on the dollars, which members of Congress then profited from by receiving the full value. The backcountry farmers felt they were being cheated twice. First they were swindled out of the full value of their pay for their war service. Then they felt the tax burden of paying off the war debt fell on them disproportionately.

The Whiskey Rebellion is often portrayed as a Pennsylvania insurrection. I remember learning about it in ninth grade when we had a Pennsylvania history class. In reality there was resistance to the whiskey tax in all of the western backcountry regions. It was, after all, a national tax, not a Pennsylvania tax. Why did it come to be presented as something that was mainly a Pennsylvania thing? I think it was likely because the Pennsylvania Road, which had recently been improved in 1791, made it convenient to move troops to the area of tax protest that happened to be closest to the Capitol, which at the time was in Philadelphia. It would have been a much more difficult, more expensive, and more time-consuming expedition to send troops to western North Carolina, Tennessee, or Kentucky. The show of force that was made possible in part by the presence of the Pennsylvania Road made it unnecessary to send troops to the other areas of tax protest.
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