The Five Oldest Roads in America Still in Use

In a piece for Jalopnik, Abhik Das highlights five of the oldest roads in the United States, thoroughfares that often began as Native American routes or stagecoach routes. 

Some of the oldest roads have been widened, paved, rerouted, and renamed. They run through bustling towns and sleepy suburbs, quietly reminding us that the foundations of American travel were laid centuries ago.

One of the country’s oldest roads, Old Mine Road, crosses from present-day New Jersey to New York and once served as a colonial ore-hauling trail. America’s first arterial road, the King’s Highway, stretched from Boston to South Carolina. Today, one segment, the Boston Post Road, still weaves its way from Boston to New York and is considered the nation’s oldest stretch of road.

For better or worse, roads — in one form or another — have shaped the history and development of the United States. From Native American migration routes to Pony Express routes to interstate highways, America’s history is plainly visible in the history of its roadways.