Does the Route 1 Corridor Follow a Native American Trail?

Some of America’s best-known roads follow routes forged by Native Americans. Broadway traces a Lenape trail across Manhattan. Parts of Route 66 roughly track older indigenous footpaths.

Maryland is no different. A recent state study documents Native paths that became the basis for some colonial roads and, in turn, some state highways. It builds on generations of research into routes such as the Old Indian Road.

It’s likely that there were native footpaths under or near what is now Route 1, as the National Park Service describes a series of Nacotchtank archaeological sites from the Potomac River up to Bladensburg.

Archaeologists have found evidence that gives a piece of the story, but digs have occurred only at specific sites such as the Bladensburg library and the Greenbelt Metro station. Retracing old footpaths has not been a priority and may no longer be possible in heavily developed areas.

The Nacotchtank also began to decline after English contact in the early 1600s due to colonist attacks and disease. Across the greater D.C. area, the local indigenolus population fell to about a quarter of its earlier level by 1648.

Because Bladensburg wasn’t established for another century, it lacks the same kinds of written accounts and references cited in other areas.

The earliest surviving records of the road come from Bladensburg’s beginnings as a bustling port town in the 1740s. Colonists in Baltimore sought to expand roads south to Georgetown, passing through Bladensburg on the way. 

This colonial road became the backbone of what is now the Route 1 corridor, first as a postal road for the new United States, then as a private toll road between Baltimore and Washington, then as one of the first state highways, and eventually as U.S. Route 1 in the 20th century.

For now, there is no evidence that the colonial road followed a native trail, but also little evidence of how it was selected at all. 

The corridor runs near Maryland’s Fall Zone, where the rocky Piedmont gives way to the lower Coastal Plain. One reasonable guess is that higher ground offered a drier route while keeping rivers and streams close by, making it a natural path for both Native Americans and colonists.

The colonial road may have followed a path worn down over centuries of use, been cut through virgin woodland by colonists, or been a combination of the two.

Meagan Baco, executive director of the Anacostia Trails Heritage Area, told the Hyattsville Wire that she’s only heard the possibility that Route 1 follows a Native trail anecdotally, stressing that the road itself hasn’t always been where it is today.

She said we may learn more from a historical study due out by the end of the year.

Somewhere, an old deed or map may hold a clue, referencing parts of an ancient “Indian path” that lies under what is currently the Route 1 corridor. But for now, there are plenty of reasons to think that it’s likely, even if unproven.

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