Why do people drive on parkways

Roads and trails performed the classic transportation function of getting travelers from place to place on their itinerary-from city to city for family or business reasons, to prisons a common tourist attraction , to natural wonders such as Niagara Falls, to the gold fields, and other destinations. One quotes Mark Twain and Charles Dickens on their stagecoach crashes:. The other describes the travels of Alexis de Tocqueville, whose trip from France to the United States in to gather material on our prison system resulted in his immortal, oft-quoted, and boring classic, Democracy in America :.

Or take one of the Rambler's favorite 19 th century visitors to these shores, Mrs. Margaret Hall. She, her husband Basil, and their month old daughter Eliza traveled from England to tour the United States for 14 months in and Putnam's Sons, , make for a good introduction to travel in the early 19 th century, particularly for tourists whose itinerary included visits to penitentiaries, asylums, and schools along with landmarks, such as Niagara Falls, famous cities such as New Orleans and Washington, and social outings.

Pine Orchard on the Catskill Mountains, June 3 []We jolted up here yesterday at the rate of four hours to thirteen miles and quite fast enough for the sake of one's bones, for such a road for ruts and holes and all manner of conveniences for shaking poor mortals to pieces I have not traveled over since I crossed the Pyrenees. We left the village of Catskill at ten o'clock in a large, lumbering stage with a seat at each side and one in the middle meant to stow eight persons, but as the fashionable season for visiting this place is not yet arrived, and the Stages consequently do not ply regularly, we engaged one of the said machines for our own use, giving a seat also to an old lawyer who had no other way of ascending the mountain.

We had four horses to draw this vehicle and required them all [because] some parts of the road were extremely steep and indeed no part of it at all would be agreeable to a nervous lady. There is absolutely nothing to prevent the carriage from rolling down the precipice, but the horses are so well used to the ascent that there is no danger whatever. We left Baltimore this morning soon after nine o'clock and found the road much better than we expected, at least as far as the weather had any effect, but a worse led [sic] road never was seen certainly, up and down hill by the steepest course that could be found, according to the very old plan of making roads in England.

Jolts, too, we had in abundance, but, notwithstanding all that, I have traveled many a worse road that has been less spoken of. We changed horses twice; at Waterloo and at the "White House". This whole distance was thirty-seven miles through very bleak, poor-looking country, but we were fortunate in as fine a day as we can expect to have at this season, for it neither rained, snowed, nor froze.

On April 5, , on the way to Montgomery, Alabama, Mrs. Hall reported that her coach "proceeded about a half a mile through the very heart of the forest and where none but a thoroughly good driver could have ventured to drive a carriage. Near the end of their stay in the United States, the family reached Louisville, Kentucky, on May 30, after a journey from Vincennes, Indiana.

They had arrived in Vincennes "over a road, whose character you may guess from its appellation of Purgatory. The road from Vincennes to Louisville is even worse than what preceded it. The style of driving on that road we found augments its natural evils.

The drivers universally drive smack along through holes, over stumps and stones, up hills, and across long pieces of corduroy [road] in a manner that it is as impossible for me to describe as it is for you to imagine. In soft or marshy areas, road-makers put logs along the path, side by side, to create a ribbed surface that gave it the name "corduroy road. Writing from Louisville, Mrs. Hall told her sister that "tired as we were with the jolting we had experienced from St. Louis and our bones still aching," the family decided to proceed to Lexington by steamboat after hearing "such discouraging accounts" of the road ahead.

Although the Halls, like other travelers, encountered roads and coaches that were less remarkable than those cited here, all travelers had much to endure for the sake of the sights and sounds of America-or simply the need to get from point A to point B. On these journeys, travelers did not consider the roads "scenic," but rather nuisances, dangers, or necessary evils. In general, travelers did not enjoy one of the things we most like to see along our scenic roads, namely trees.

They were viewed, especially by Americans, as the enemy of farms, settlements, and roads, many of which retained low tree stumps in the traveled-way. Abigail Adams, whose husband John was the first President of the United States to serve in the new city of Washington, shared the common experience of forests when she traveled to the city for the first time in November As David McCullough explained in John Adams Simon and Schuster, , the last leg of the trip from Baltimore to Washington was even more difficult than the Hall family would encounter nearly 30 years later:.

In Maryland, as she later described it to Mary Cranch, there was only forest, the roads so rough and uncertain that she and her party were lost for two hours. When time came to return to her Massachusetts home, she dreaded the trip, fearing "so many horrid rivers to cross and such roads to traverse. The best, perhaps, that could be said of the roads was that they provided amusing, and sometimes horrifying, anecdotes for travel books such as Dickens' American Notes and Twain's Roughing It This attitude began to change in the 's when America, like countries around the world, embraced the bicycle.

The "ordinary" bicycle with its large front wheel and small rear wheel began the craze, which soon became a mania throughout the country and the world. Following introduction of the "safety" bicycle with its equal-sized wheels and easier operation, the craze became even more of a phenomenon.

Many bicyclists cited their freedom from the rigid schedules and fees of the railroad companies one of the most hated but unavoidable institutions of the era and electric interurban rail lines. As a result, highway historians refer to the last two decades of the 19 th century as the era of "The Bicycle Craze" and "The Good Roads Movement.

They cited dusty or muddy roads, dangers such as "headers" being thrown over the handlebar , and abuse by passing farmers who denounced the "peacock joy riders" and "scorchers" speeders who had time to waste on such outings. Here we see the origins of the "Sunday drive" of a later period, the trip as pleasure with no motivation other than a beautiful day, sightseeing, and a picnic lunch. The bicycling magazines of the era were filled with articles about the joys of sightseeing via bicycle, each with commentary on the condition of the roads a bicyclist would encounter along the way.

The poor condition of the country roads prompted bicycle advocates, particularly the League of American Wheelmen and its State affiliates, to begin promoting better conditions. Initially, they had to overcome early prejudices by securing changes in county, township, and State laws that infringed on bicyclists, as well as promoting road improvement. They also worked with railroad companies to secure bargain prices for touring trips by bicyclists to remoter regions.

The initial focus was to encourage the States to take on road improvement. However, even more grandiose ideas were conceived to increase the pleasure of bicycling.

Bicyclists began speaking of long-distance roads, from city to city, State to State, even transcontinental highways for their use. In , a promoter in Los Angeles, California, built a "freeway" so bicyclists could enjoy their outings without the difficulties of bumping over the area's country roads. On this splendid track cyclists may now enjoy the very poetry of wheeling. At Pasadena they may mount their cycles and sail down to Los Angeles without so much as touching the pedals, even though the gradient is extremely slight.

The way lies for the most part along the east bank of the Arroyo Seco, giving a fine view of this wooded stream, and skirting the foot of the neighboring oak-covered hills. The surface is perfectly free from all dust and mud, and nervous cyclists find the track safer than the widest roads, for there are no horses to avoid, no trains or trolley-cars, no stray dogs or wandering children.

By , bicyclists had generated sufficient interest to prompt two States, Massachusetts and New Jersey, to create the first State highway agencies to help counties improve their roads. The funds were for an inquiry into:. As the placement of the inquiry in the Department of Agriculture suggests, bicycle advocates did not rely on "the poetry of wheeling" to secure Federal support. They bolstered their argument by promoting good roads as a way of improving farm production and reducing the cost of shipping farm goods to markets.

The Rambler particularly likes Robert A. Although the book is out-of-print, it should be available through interlibrary loans or used book services. Thesis, The American University, Mason's thesis did not become a commercial publication, but may be available through interlibrary loan. Interest in the bicycle faded in the early 20 th century as the automobile came into prominence. Many advances the bicyclists had accomplished by changing State and local law, as well as the Federal road agency, were quickly adapted to the "motor wagon.

Advocates emphasized the transportation value of the new vehicle, particularly its environmental advantages over the horses that "polluted" city streets. For many, however, the pleasures involved recreational activities such as sightseeing, touring, and racing another adaptation from the Bicycle Craze. Initially, the expensive vehicles were the "plaything" of the wealthy who had time to spend weeks traveling to distant destinations over the poor roads of the era.

The News Wheel is a digital auto magazine providing readers with a fresh perspective on the latest car news. See more articles from The News Wheel. Added on September 28, The News Wheel drive on parkways park on driveways , History , why do we drive on parkways , why do we park on driveways.

Driveway came into written use a bit earlier than parkway did. Unlike parkway , the word driveway didn't refer to where the path was a drive , but what the path was for driving. The earliest driveways were roads that ran alongside barns, where vehicles like wagons could drive up and either offload cargo like hay, food, or livestock or take on cargo like hay, food, or livestock :.

The building should be so placed that the barn floor could be laid upon the beams, and the drive-way be into the end directly under the roof. Of course, these access roads onto a property became handy places to park vehicles, and when the automobile age began, these off-street roads became ideal places to park the family car.

In time, the verbs that we used with parkway and driveway became fixed— drive with parkway and park with driveway. And George Carlin's stand-up routine about the nonsensical nature of English gained one more data point.

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