Abstract:
Despite pleas from American colonies for England to fund the building of roads, substantial roads were not built in America until after the Revolutionary War. In the 1770s, a horse-drawn wagon that could travel between New York and Philadelphia in a day and a half seemed so incredible it was dubbed “The Flying Machine.†Travel time between colonies was now greatly reduced. The first turnpike was built in Virginia in 1785, after which time inns and taverns began to spring up, and the first scheduled travel appeared in America.