The history of this important public work begins with the admission of Ohio into the Union. Congress enacted "that one-twentieth part of the net proceeds of the lands lying within said State, sold by Congress from and after the 30th day of June next, after deducting all expenses incident to the same, shall be applied to the laying-out and making public roads, leading from the navigable waters emptying into the Atlantic, to the Ohio, to the said State, and through the same. Such roads to be laid out under the authority of Congress, with the consent of the States through which the road shall pass: Provided, that the said State shall provide by an ordinance, irrevocable without the consent of the United States, that each and every tract of land sold by Congress, after the 30th day of June next, shall be and remain free from any tax laid by said State for the term of five years from the day of sale. Approved April 30, 1802."
In 1806, Congress passed a law entitled, "An act to regulate the laying-out and making a road from Cumberland, in the State of Maryland, to the State of Ohio." President Jefferson appointed Thomas Moore and Eli Williams, of Maryland, and Joseph Kerr, of Ohio, as Commissioners to lay out said road, and to perform the other duties assigned to them by the act. The building of this great highway went slowly forward for many years, but at times the labor on it ceased altogether for want of funds, different Presidents vetoing bills appropriating money toward its construction. In 1831, a bill was passed and approved, appropriating money for the extension of the Cumberland road through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. In 1836-37, this great road was built through Madison County. It crosses Big Darby near the northeast corner of Survey 2,677; thence takes a southwest direction, passing through Jefferson, Deer Creek and Somerford Townships, and leaves the county at the southwest corner of Survey 4,200, on the Clark County line. Along its course sprang up three thriving villages, viz., Jefferson, La Fayette and Somerford, the two first mentioned supporting three taverns each, and the latter two, all of which did a big business. Between Jefferson and La Fayette, on the glade, was a tavern called the "Golden Lamb," and it, too, had its share of the prosperity which the immense travel on this great thoroughfare inaugurated.
We cannot give a better description of this great work than to quote, verbatim, a portion of an article written some years ago, by one who had often traveled over it during its palmiest days: "The National Turnpike that led over the Alleghanies from the East to the West is a glory departed, and the traffic that once belonged to it now courses through other channels; but it is simply because it is the past that the few old men living who have reminiscences of it glow with excitement and exalt it in recalling them. Aroused out of the dreamy silence of their ebbing days by a suggestion of it, the octogenarians who participated in the traffic will tell an inquirer that never before were such landlords, such taverns, such dinners, such whisky, such bustle or such endless cavalcades of coaches and wagons as could be seen or had in the palmy days of the old National pike, and it is certain that when the coaching days were palmy, no other post road in tbe country did the same business as this fine old highway, which opened the West and Southwest to the East. The wagons were so numerous that the leaders of one team had their noses in the trough at the end of the next wagon ahead; and the coaches, drawn by four or six horses, dashed along at a speed of which a modern limited express might not feel ashamed.
"Once in awhile, Henry Clay or Gen. Jackson made an appearance, and answered with stately cordiality the familiar greetings of the other passers-by. Homespun Davy Crockett sometimes stood in relief against the busy scene, and all the statesmen of the West and South—Harrison, Houston, Taylor, Polk and Allen, among others—came along the road to Washington. The traffic seems like a frieze, with an endless procession of figures. There were sometimes sixteen gayly painted coaches each way a day; the cattle and sheep were never out of sight; the canvas-covered wagons were drawn by six or twelve horses, with bows or bells over their collars; the families of statesmen and merchants went by in private vehicles; and, while most of the travelers were unostentatious, a few had splendid equipages. Its projector and chief supporter was Henry Clay, whose services in behalf are commemorated by a monument near Wheeling. The coaches ceased running in 1853; the 'June Bug,' the 'Good Intent,' and the 'Landlords,' as the various lines were called, sold their stock, and a brilliant era of travel was ended."
The building of railroads deprived the road of its prestige; for many years Congress neglected to make appropriations for the necessary repairs, until finally it was transferred to the States through which it passed. The portion running through Ohio became a part of the public works of the State, but in 1876 the Legislature reduced it to the level of other pikes, since which time the County Commissioners of each county through which the road passes have had charge of it the same as all other roads.