ON THE BEATEN TRACKFrom ancient pilgrimages to modern highways: a history of routes well travelled

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A sheep using Wheeldale Roman Road (English Heritage), North York Moors National Park

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2. Roman roads

The network of stone that linked an empire was one of the greatest engineering accomplishments of its time, with over 50,000 miles of paved road radiating from their centre

at the miliarius aurem in the Forum in the city of Rome. Although the Roman road system was originally built to facilitate the movement of troops throughout the empire, it was inevitably used for other purposes by civilians then and now. All roads really did lead back to the heart of the empire.

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Sections of the original paving survive along some stretches of the Via Appia

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2. Roman roads

The first official Roman road and once referred to by the poet Statius as ‘the queen of

the roads’, the Via Appia marked the beginning of a process that would result in a huge network of highways crossing the Roman Empire. It runs from Rome to Brindisi, from where ships to Greece did and in fact still do depart, and so linked the Mediterranean to the Adriatic, the Roman world to the Hellenic.

The original Via Appia ran southeast from Rome along the coastal plain below the Alban Hills and then inland to Capua. The date of construction is recorded as 312bc but the work must have involved the incorporation and upgrading of a number of existing tracks and is likely to have taken several years. Well drained

and surfaced, although perhaps not paved at first, the Via Appia was a feat of advanced engineering and a forerunner of the vast international network of highways that would later change the world. It takes its name from Appius Claudius, the city magistrate who was responsible for its constuction and also built the first aqueduct in Rome, the Aqua Appia.

PurposeThe Via Appia was originally built to link Rome and Capua at a time when the two cities were forming a joint political administration. As Rome’s power spread, it was later extended in stages beyond Capua, through the

Apennines to Benevento, Taranto and finally Brindisi, 365 Roman miles (339 modern miles/ 545km) away on the southeast coast. It took only five days to reach Capua and 13 or 14 days to cover the full length with milestones and service stations offering food, a change of horses and a bed for the night along with way.

EngineeringThe road, like most Roman roads, began as a levelled dirt road upon which small stones and mortar were laid. This was topped with gravel and in its early days, the Appian Road probably had just this gravel surface. Later on, however, it was paved with tightly fitting,

The Via Appia

The ancient Porta Appia, now known as the Porta San Sebastiano, from which the Via Appia led out of Rome

Date built: 312BC Length: 339 miles Purpose: Political, military

Rome

Brindisi

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interlocking stones to provide a flat surface. Some of these stones were said to fit so well that you could not slide a knife into the cracks. The stone used was volcanic, a legacy of the lava flow from the Alban Hills. This later, high-quality road also had drainage ditches on either side, low retaining walls on sunken portions and dirt pathways for pavements. It is thought to be the first Roman road to feature the use of lime cement. The road was 13 feet wide, the statutory width for roads at the time and just wide enough to allow vehicles travelling in opposite directions to pass.

The route the road followed posed a number of problems, not least the Pomptine Marshes which have been the subject of numerous drainage projects over the centuries, including one by Appius Claudius, but were not thoroughly and successfully drained until Mussolini’s time. The Roman road had to cross the 19 miles of stagnant and foul-smelling pools and this stretch of road with its many bridges was in constant need of repair. No-one enjoyed crossing the marsh and in 162bc when Marcus Cornelius Cathegus had a canal constructed alongside this stretch of road to reduce congestion, many Romans opted for using this instead.

Historical events on the Via AppiaThe Via Appia owes its fame partly to historical and legendary events which took place along its length. These include the crucifixion of Spartacus and Peter’s vision of Christ.

Crucifixion of SpartacusIn 73bc a slave revolt (known as the Third Servile War) broke out against the Romans

under the leadership of ex-gladiator Spartacus. They defeated many Roman armies but were then trapped between two armies when trying to escape from Brindisi. Spartacus fell at the subsequent battle at the river Silarius where according to Appius, ‘Spartacus was wounded in the thigh with a spear and sank upon his knee, holding his shield in front of him and contending in this way against his assailants until he and the great mass of those with him were surrounded and slain.’ The slaves who followed him were judged to have broken their contract and so forfeited the right to live. 6,000 of them were crucified along the Via Appia

and the order was never given for their bodies to be taken down so travellers were forced to see the bodies for years after the final battle.

Christ appears to PeterTradition, although not the New Testament, tells the tale of Christ appearing to Saint Peter on the Via Appia. Peter was fleeing Rome during the Persecutions under Nero when he saw Christ travelling the other way carrying his cross. Peter asked him ‘Domine, quo vadis?’ (‘Lord, where are you going?’) and on hearing the answer that Christ was going to Rome to be crucified for the second time, Peter realised that Christ would be taking his place and returned to be crucified himself. The church of Domine Quo Vadis, only a short distance from the Porta San Sebastiano, commemorates this event and contains the stone in which Christ is said to have left his footprint when the encounter took place.

RemainsThe most famous portion of the Via Appia today is the tomb-lined stretch nearest Rome which starts at the Porta Capena, near the rounded end of the Circus Maximus, a stadium dating from the 4th century ad. Beyond this section, it can prove difficult to follow the route of the ancient road today. Despite the common conception of Roman roads as being straight, the Via Appia only is in sections and its route from Rome to Brindisi is far from direct. In the 1880s there was talk of a grand scheme that would eventually turn the entire route into a kind of national archaeological park and long-distance trail but this came to nothing and centuries of neglect, wartime bombing and postwar development have destroyed parts of the road.

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On the beaten track

Christ appearing to Peter on the Via Appia is rarely depicted in art but does appear in this painting by Annibale Carracci from around 1603

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2. Roman roads

According to Roman law, burials had to take place outside a city’s walls so the Via Appia, outside the limits of Rome, is lined with the ruins of funerary monuments (see above left) and beneath the surface, miles of tunnel hewn out of the soft, tufa stone. These tunnels, or catacombs, were where early Christians buried their dead and, during the worst times of persecution, held church services discreetly out of the public eye. A few of the catacombs, including the impressive San Callisto, are now open to the general public so you can wander through mile after mile of musty-smelling tunnels whose soft walls are gouged out with tens of thousands of burial niches—long shelves made for two or three each.

Above ground the tombs would have been adorned with rich marble but much of this disappeared long ago, leaving odd-shaped brick structures (see above right) and only a hint of their original magnificence. It is possible to make out the different types of monument, particularly the sort known as columbaria (dovecots) because their many niches for the ashes of different family members resemble pigeon-holes.

Also on the stretch just outside Rome and running parallel with the road, are the ruins of some of the aqueducts which supplied the city with water (see right). These six bridges carried water from the Alban Hills to the centre of Rome.

Ruins along the Via Appia

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Hackberry General Stores, Route 66, Hackberry, Arizona – one of the many shops along Route 66 that have been preserved in their original state

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3. Motorways and highways

It was not the countryside through which Route 66 travelled that made it famous, it

was what the Route embodied for the millions of people who drove along it in search of a better life. Although it officially ceased to exist in 1985, it was immortalised in the Rolling Stone’s song of the same name and continues to capture people’s imagination today.

OriginsOne of the original US Highways, Route 66 was established on November 11th 1926. It originally ran from Chicago through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, before ending at Los Angeles, covering a total of 2,448 miles (3,940km). It is also known as the Main Street

of America or the Mother Road as John Steinbeck called it in his 1939 novel, The Grapes of Wrath. It was the brainchild of one man, Cyrus Stevens Avery, a Tulsa businessman who saw that a major road between Chicago and Los Angeles would bring major economic advantages to Oklahoma. In 1927 he founded the US 66 Highway Association to urge the government into action, an association that was not disbanded until 1976.

Increasing popularityAt first Route 66 was little more than a set of connecting trackways. Efforts to pave it were begun but abandoned during the Great

Depression and it was not until 1938, thanks to the work of thousands of unemployed male youths from virtually every state, that it was fully paved. Many people can still recall the road being almost impossible to travel, with cars and buses being bogged down in mud when it rained. Despite its appalling conditions, people used the route in ever increasing numbers. Much of the highway was essentially flat and this made it a popular truck route.

The Dust Bowl of the 1930s saw more than 200,000 people, mainly farming families from Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas, heading west for agricultural jobs in California. Route 66

Route 66

Los Angeles

Chicago

Opened: 1926Length: 2,448 miles (3,940km)Purpose: Migrant route, holiday route, military during World War II

The Chain of Rocks Bridge was built privately as a toll bridge in 1929 and later used to carry Route 66 over the Mississippi. 5,353 feet long, it one of the longest continuous steel truss bridges in the US

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became the main road of travel for these people and for them it symbolised the ‘road to opportunity’. However, parts of Route 66 remained very dangerous, leading to its nickname Bloody 66. One section just outside Oatman, Arizona (through the Black Mountains of Arizona) was fraught with sharp hairpin turns and was the steepest along the entire route, so much so that some early travellers, too frightened at the prospect of driving such a potentially dangerous road, hired locals to navigate the winding grade.

During World War II, more migration west occurred because of war-related industries in California. Route 66 was upgraded quickly to a divided highway in some areas to help with military traffic. When the war was finally over, the road also provided the way home for thousands of troops. In the 1950s, Route 66 became the main highway for vacationers heading to Los Angeles. With the increasing number of travellers, roadside business along Route 66 began to boom. As more and more cafes, motels, gas stations and shops sprang up, competition between them grew fierce. Traders began to use all manner of gimmicks to persuade travellers to stop. Advertising signs grew larger and more inventive, and Indian traders near Gallup even had a tethered buffalo to attract customers.

Decline1965 saw the introduction of the Highway Beautification Act which limited the number of signs that could be displayed. Traders on Route 66 complained bitterly about the loss of trade—a symptom compounded by the effects

of the 1956 Interstate Highway Act. The Act was a result of Eisenhower’s admiration for the German high-speed roadways he saw whilst fighting in Europe during the Second World War and aimed to replace the single-laned Route 66 with newer, bigger, safer and faster roads, fenced along the sides, that bypassed all the small towns along the route. Eisenhower envisaged a US in which you could drive at high speed from one side of the country to the other and was also considering the ease of mobilisation of troops in a national emergency. It took more than 30 years before all of the route was finally replaced, but in 1985 a ceremonial ribbon-cutting closed the last part of this historic road in a blaze of publicity.

RevivalIn 1990, Route 66 associations were founded separately in both Missouri and Arizona with other states on the route soon following suit. That same year, the state of Missouri declared their section of the route a State Historical Route and the first Historical Route 66 markers were put up. Markers now follow the entire 2,400 mile route and support for the preservation of the road continues to grow. In 2008, the World Monuments Watch added Route 66 to its list of 100 Most Endangered Sites. Gas stations, motels, cafés, trading posts and drive-in cinemas along the route are all threatened by abandonment in rural areas and development in urban areas.

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On the beaten track

The Arcadia Round Barn roof’s collapsed in 1988 but was repaired at the staggering cost of $165,000 and the barn is now is one of the most popular sights on the old Route 66

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3. Motorways and highways

Route 66 holds a place in people’s hearts partly due to the attention it has been paid in popular culture. After making the gruelling journey along the narrow, crowded Route 66 after World War II, Bobby Troup wrote a song about it in 1946. He showed it to Nat King Cole (see above left), who immediately turned it into one of the popular blues classics of the time. It was later covered by Chuck Berry in 1961 and the Rolling Stones in 1964.

Next came the popular television series Route 66 which ran in America on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It starred Martin Milner and George Maharis as protagonists Tod Stiles and Buz Murdock (see above right) who drove the

famous route in their iconic Corvette convertible. Each episode features them in a different place along the route, getting caught up in the struggles of the local people.

The original working title for the 2001 Pixar film, Cars was Route 66 and the Pixar crew got their inspiration for many of the characters and locations from people and places they met and saw whilst travelling the famous Mother Road. The ‘Cars’ soundtrack has two versions of the classic Bobby Troup Route 66 as well as a new version recorded specially for the film’s credits. The film has revived Route 66 in popular culture and brought it to the attention of many children today.

‘Route 66’ song lyrics

Well if you ever plan to motor west,Just take my way, that’s the highway that’s the best.Get your kicks on Route 66.

Well it winds from Chicago to L.A.,More than 2000 miles all the way.Get your kicks on Route 66.

Well goes from St. Louie down to MissouriOklahoma City looks oh so prettyYou’ll see Amarillo and Gallup, New MexicoFlagstaff, Arizona don’t forget WinonaKingman, Barstow, San Bernadino

Would you get hip to this kindly tip;And go take that California tripGet your kicks on Route 66.

Bobby Troup

Route 66 and popular culture

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