Kentucky's Frontier Highway

"The authors demonstrate quite convincingly that rich local history lies along our roads. They unearthed an abundance of behind-the-scenes information that is invisible to us as we barrel down the highway. It should give all readers pause to consider how much more they could know about the places they travel through."—Craig E. Colten, author of Perilous Place, Powerful Storms: Hurricane Protection in Coastal Louisiana

"This notable and ably-illustrated volume by geographer Karl Raitz and archeologist Nancy O'Malley captures the rigors of frontier Appalachian geography and the utter ingenuity of diverse peoples bent on moving west. The road is perhaps the greatest of American themes — it encapsulates freedom, mobility, possibility, escape, commerce, crime and calumny, adventure, and romance. Thank goodness we have these two able storytellers to give us the narrative of the Maysville Road."—Paul F. Starrs, Regents & Foundation Professor of Geography (University of Nevada), and recipient, J.B. Jackson Prize, Association of American Geographers

"The Maysville Road is famous. Every student of American history reads about Andrew Jackson's celebrated veto of federal funding for its construction on the high principle of separation of Constitutional powers between state and federal governments. Jackson fixed the road permanently in the great narrative of American history. But to Karl Raitz and Nancy O'Malley the road is anything but a static principle of the American past. For them, it is a malleable and mutable feature of a landscape in constant adjustment to the great forces of history and human agency. It is a cultural site for questioning the past and musing about its meaning. It is a vector of interrelated forces in science, engineering, and technology. At its intersections converge the economic, social, and political influences of each age. Most eloquently—and this is an eloquent book—the Maysville Road is a 'tableau of historical geography' richly portraying historic events and individuals of great significance at the same time it embodies the 'larger landscape of common people and common artifacts.' Reading this road with Raitz and O'Malley is one of the great rides in American history."—Warren R. Hofstra, Stewart Bell Professor of History, Shenandoah University

"Raitz and O'Malley have written a remarkable historical and geographical study of the old Maysville to Lexington road...The book is easily a delight for serious "road" scholars as well as "Sunday" drivers. Kentucky's Frontier Highway demonstrates how much rich history is contained on the roads and byways we encounter each and every day."—West Virginia History

"Anyone who has ancestors who lived along that thoroughfare will find this new book an invaluable source of new information and research on this historic pathway into the commonwealth."

"The authors show clearly how the development of the Maysville Road shaped the history of the Bluegrass. Those with an interest in development of the Maysville Road and the Bluegrass will find Kentucky's Frontier Highway and enjoyable and worthwhile read."—Ohio Valley History