The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1930-05-15
Present National Highway Was Only
Link Between East and West

Clay. The coach in which Clay was
travelling to Washington upset on a
pile of limestones in the main street
of Uniontown. The famous states
man was unhurt and, upon being ex-
irrigated, remarked with much aplomb:
"This is mixing the Clay of Kentucky
with the limestone of Pennsylvania"
The scenery was so beautiful that
many people would make pleasure
trips over the Cumberland Road for
this reason alone. People who were
unused to mountain travel or scenery
vacillated between overpowering awe
at the view from the mountain peaks
and adject terror as the stage coach
rumbled down the steep descents and
around elbow curves at break-neck
speed. Scharf's History of Western
Maryland" describes one such notable
trip:
President Taylor and his party
were, in 1849, conveyed over this road
y *The road was a perfect glare
of ice and everything above ground
was literally plated with sleeted frost.
The scenery was beautiful; to native
mountaineers, too common to be of
much interest, but to a Southerner
like General Taylor, who had never
seen the like, it was phenomenon. In
going down Meadow Mountain the
Presidential coach, with the others,
danced and waltzed on the polished
road, first on one side and then on the
other, with every sign of an i'm
mediate capsize, but the coaches were
manned with the most expert Of the
whole corps of drivers. Down each
hill and mountain the iron-gray head
of the General could be seen outside
the window of his coach to look upon,
what seemed to him, an Arctic pan
Drama. After a ride of many miles,
the last long slope was passed and
everything was safe. At twilight the
Narrows were reached, two miles
west of Cumberland, one of the
noblest and most sublime views on
the Atlantic slope. General Taylor
assumed authority and ordered halt,
and out he got in the storm and snow
and looked at the giddy heights on
either side of Wills Creek.
The congestion of travel secured
this highway from maruders to some
extent, but the occupants of the
coaches had their expeditions spiced
by an occasional hold-up. There were
certain places along the pike which
seemed to have formed by nature for
no other than this unlawful purpose.
A stretch of land about six miles
east of Grantsville, known as the
Shades of Death, was dreaded for this
reason. It was here that many Of the
hold-ups and murders took place.
This notorious section consisted of a
short but very steep descent with a
very sharp curve half way down. Ris-
ing Immediately from the foot of this
hill, the steep, winding road of the
next mountain shoots skyward. The
grade and the curves made it impos-
sible for the stage driver to see any
barrier thrown across the road until
he was upon it. The dense forest on
the upper side of the road made it
possible for the robbers to fell tree
across the road with little trouble and
then, after the robbery, the same for
est offered an almost impenetrable re-
treat until pursuit died down.
At Piney Grove a girl bandit and
her two male companions caused the
passengers of one stagecoach to have
a thrilling ride. The coach had been
stopped and the order given for the
driver to "put up his hands," The
driver noticed that all three were
quite nervous, so he decided to make
a break for it. He brought down his
hands, grabbed the reins, yelled to
his horses and had started up the
bank before the highwaymen could
collect their wits. The driver brought
his coach through the woods and back
to the road again without upsetting
it or having any of his passengers in
jured.
The Cumberland road has a peculiar
nomenclature that is familiar to all
who have travelled over Omitted
States Route 49," The various odd
and yet fitting names are derived from
stories of romance and adventure. Big
Savage Mountain, Little Savage,
Lovers Leap, The Narrows, Negro
Mountain, Shades of Death, each has
obtained it's name from some local
adventure. The Narrows are almost
a part of the city of Cumberland.
Just west of the city the National
Highway, Willis Creek and rows OF
railroad tracks are squeezed between
the rock-ribbed perpendicular sides OF
two mountains. Here the condition OF
the land explains the name. Tradi-
ton tells US that here the romance
between an Indian maiden and her
lover eliminated so tragically.
The two lovers belonged to enemy
tribes and therefore could never mar
ry. Rather than live without each
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