Howardsville Turnpike (historic road)

The bell system tells you everything about how this road worked. If your wagon got stuck and another team pulled you out, you forfeited your bells — so the driver who arrived at Howardsville with the most bells on his harness had navigated every mile without help. The Howardsville Turnpike was built to those stakes: a point-to-point route of even grade, specifications set in June 1848, carrying Augusta County's grain, tobacco, and iron west to east across the Blue Ridge to boats on the James River.