The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1910-02-18
vERMoNT's ONE ToLL-eATE
The Old Turnpike Road From Man
chester 70 Peru.


probably the only one in New Eng /
land is situated al the foot Of the 1
mountain on the road leading from I
Manchester 10 Peru and Bondvillc /
The fares collected are automobile |
so cents. double team % cents Peru /
way and 10 cents Bondville way.
single team 20 cents Peru way and
cents Winhau way This may seem
queer that there should be such a
difference in the rates according to (
which town you are going TO or c'-m-
ing from, but when less than half
way up the mountain the Winhan
traveller turns of from TIE turnpike
road. This difference in the gate
fare has caused many a perurious
farmer to periure his soul to save a
few of those hard-earned pennies.
and it has developed a detective sp'r
it in the gatekeeper in order TO col
lect the honest toll. In 1914 the leg
islature granted a charter for the
construction of a turnpike road five
miles long beginning at the foot of
the mountain and leading up over the
summit of Bromley mountain about
a mile. Gen. Peter Dudley of Peru.
father of Col. Homer A. Dudley Of
South Londonderry, began building
this road in 1915 and completed it in
1916 This was the main route fr'm
Boston to Saratoga and there was
large amount of travel over the turn
pike until the building of railroads
in 1850 diverted it, Since then the
road has not been a paying PROPOSE
ton to its owners at times, on ac-
count of the scarcity Of travel, and
the heavy expense attendant on keep
ing in repair five miles of mountain
road With the advent of automobile
travel the financial status of the pro
position has been revolutionized
This mountain road is one of the
main routes from New York city to
the White mountains and thus there
is a large automobile travel during
the summer months. During last
| season 1924 automobiles passed
through this gate, which means 1912
in revenue This was not thought
of 10 years ago The turnpike has
usually been kept in good repair and
the heavy travel has not seriously
damaged it, Bradford Prouty of
Peru has had charge of the repairing
Of it for several years and the excel
lent condition of the road is to
large extent due to his yigilant care
in keeping good water bars and ditch
es. The condition of this piece of
road looked after by individual enter
prise illustrates a serious defect il
our road system-l Brattleboro letter.
in Springfield Sunday Republican
Some further details concerning
the toll road and the way it is kept
in repair are given in the following
which appeared as communication
from T. K. Simonds in the Man
cester Journal in November, 1909
While our legislators are agitating
the subject of good roads perhaps a
concrete example may be of value
What is known as the Peru Turnpike
was built more than 20 years ago by
Gen Peter Dudley of Peru. 1t is five
miles in length and for its construc
ton he received $500. To build such
a road now would cost nearly four
times as much, 1t is for most Of the
way a mountain road and much OF
the way is very steep. Mr. Dudley
made a good road to begin with and
it has always been kept in good con
dition.
Before the construction Of the
railroad there was very large
amount of traffic over it and much
heavy teamnig. The stock then paid
large dividends, but since The advent
of the railroads the travel has been
very light and the revenue has paid
little more than the cost of mainten-
ance.' The past year however, it has
been a great thorOughfare for auto
mobiles in crossing the mountains
as it is the best road across, and
about Lilo touring cars have passed
through the toll gates. These people
all pronounce it fine road except
for the high water bars, but these
are necessary to keep the water out
of the road
Now the great point of interest is
the maintenance of this road which
is done at surprisingly low cost
There is not gravel bed in the
whole length of the road across the
mountain. The soil is hard loan
but filled with round cobble stones
showing an ancient sea beach, a part
Of the way.
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