In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:
  • Kentucky's Frontier Highway: Historical Landscapes along the Maysville Road by Karl Raitz and Nancy O'Malley
  • Brian L. Hackett
Kentucky's Frontier Highway: Historical Landscapes along the Maysville Road by Karl Raitz and Nancy O'Malley. (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2012. Pp. 411.)

Raitz and O'Malley have written a remarkable historical and geographical study of the old Maysville to Lexington road, a road significant to the development of the Commonwealth. Actually this statement is not entirely correct, for the authors have not written one book, but more accurately, two books. The first book contained in Kentucky's Frontier Highway prepares the reader for what is to follow, allowing the reader to experience the second portion of the work with greater understanding and appreciation.

The work begins with a capable discussion of the historical importance of roads as places of interaction and "human agency" (150). Moving from a general discussion about the role of early roads to the specific history and geography of the Maysville road, the authors establish how this road developed and was used. Highlights include contemporary descriptions of the road by travelers and discussions of significant places along the road—key to both travelers and those living on the thoroughfare. As time passed, the Maysville to Lexington road evolved from a poorly maintained path through the wilderness to a modern paved highway. Especially worthy of note in the book is the exploration of the workers who built the road and helped change it as it evolved. Like the rest of America, as the needs of the road and the people who used it changed, so did the road's culture and landscape.

This is where the second part of the book begins. Once establishing the reader with the understanding of the road as it evolved as a whole geographic landscape, the authors begin their mile-by-mile dissection. Like skilled forensic scientists, Raitz and O'Malley approach the road as a living document, highlighting its important features. At times, the descriptions are routine, noting [End Page 121] an intersection, a modern high school, or some piece of history that has been lost to time, such as a tavern, toll house, or abandoned railroad right of way. At other times, the descriptions are incredibly full, exploring individual houses, communities, and other important pieces of material culture.

The result of this approach is a thinking person's travel log, placing before the reader, and hopefully the traveler, a rich mosaic of the existing highway. The picture is as complete as a study could be, without being overly detailed and bogged down in the over-analysis of individual places and dry facts. 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. Sadly, it also gives us a good idea of the heritage that we have lost to progress.

Brian L. Hackett
Northern Kentucky University
...

pdf

Share