Jon Sage

The United States government, eager for westward expansion after the Revolutionary War, sought to develop a series of public works projects which would facilitate commerce in the outlying states and territories. The road’s namesake, Cumberland, Maryland, situated just outside Washington, D.C., was chosen in large part because of its strategic location and proximity to the nation’s capital. The area surrounding Cumberland afforded natural defenses and, in the spirit of continued and expanded national defenses, was also the home of military outposts.^[1]