The National Road in western Indiana

I blogged for weeks last year about my August trip down the National Road (US 40) from Indianapolis to the Illinois line. I shared stories, facts, and photos of the former alignments, neon signs, old bridges, grand homes, and faded towns. It was a great trip!

But, you see, I didn’t share everything. There are more former alignments, more neon signs, more old bridges, more grand homes, and more faded towns just waiting for you if you’ll kindly click:

The National Road in Western Indiana, Revisited

You will instantly be transported to jimgrey.net, where waits for you my usual obsessively detailed rundown of the entire route.

(And if you like, you can compare it to my writeup of my first road trip, which was down the same road. I’ve learned a lot about the old roads since then!)


Comments

2 responses to “The National Road in western Indiana”

  1. Cameron Miller Avatar
    Cameron Miller

    In your write-up on the Plainfield segment of the National Road you posed what I’ll call the “Buchanan St. question”. A number of months ago while poring over modern aerial photos, I had similar thoughts, wondering if Buchanan St was part of an earlier alignment. Upon closer inspection (and without the luxury of actual on-site observation) I concluded that it was probably part of an abandoned railroad right-of-way. Have a look westward beyond present US 40 and it looks suspiciously abandoned railroadish.

    I’m very curious to know more. Perhaps I will visit there soon to have a closer look or maybe a more-informed reader will be kind enough to offer us some tidbits of greater enlightenment.

    1. Jim Avatar

      Cameron, I received e-mail the other day from a former Plainfield resident who saw my writeup. He said that this was, as you guessed, a former rail alignment — specifically, it was the interurban right-of-way.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: