newjerseynewsroom.com

BY ERIC MODEL

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

JOURNEYS INTO NEW JERSEY

To most it's a roadside sign near the Meadowlands sports complex -- Paterson Plank Road -- or a bus stop on the 135 line. But in a different era, Paterson Plank Road was the New Jersey Turnpike or Garden State Parkway of its time.

Growing up, I had frequently heard about how pirates had roamed at will at what is now known as the Meadowlands. I had somehow thought that Plank Road was somehow tied in to the pirate-inspired tradition of walking the plank. But there is no evidence to support my personal folk tale.

In reality, it was during the 19th century that plank roads were developed, often by private companies which charged a toll. They were made by laying boards side-to-side to prevent coach and wagon wheels from getting bogged down in soft or swampy ground, and to reduce travel times with a uniform surface.

This technology was applied to the Paterson Plank Road and similar roads, the Hackensack Plank Road and the Newark Plank Road, which also crossed the Hackensack Meadows to the cities for which they are named.

Plank roads were not limited to New Jersey. For example to bring wealth and awake their state from a perceived economic slumber in the antebellum era, North Carolinians advocated the use of plank roads in the late 1840's. These wooded highways were purported to be an improvement over rough, dirt roads and a necessary step to create an intrastste (eventually interstate) trade network of plank roads, railroad hubs and seaports. Such efforts were thought to be necessary, as one historian put it, because plank roads could free "citizens from the bondage of primitive roads."

Similarly, up north in Wisconsin, plank roads found favor. Since mud or snow often slowed passage on even the best early roads, plank roads came into vogue for a very brief period. Successful reports of plank road use in European countries created the opinion that they would be an improvement over the crude military and state road conditions.

Plank roads were seen as a practical means for agricultural products to reach markets, since farmers could use their own vehicles and such roads were cheaper to construct than railroads. There the earliest plank road to be chartered and surfaced in Wisconsin was built between Lisbon and Milwaukee in 1846. Between 1846 and 1871, 135 turnpike and plank road companies were organized and chartered by the legislature.

Locally, the Paterson Plank Road was originally laid in the colonial era. The route, connecting the city Paterson and the Hudson River waterfront, has largely been superseded by Route 3, but still exists and has remained an important local thoroughfare.

Portions of the road were at the time called New Barbados Turnpike, from New Barbados Neck, the name of the peninsula between the rivers it crossed, the Hackensack and the Passaic.

The company which built the Paterson and New York Plank Road, as it was called, received its charter on March 14th, 1851. Over time it was upgraded and at one point had three street car lines on its entire length operated by the Public Service Railway: 15 Passaic; 17 Hudson and 35 Secaucus.

Not too far from the Paterson Plank Road, lay the Hackensack Plank Road, a major artery which connecting Hoboken and Hackensack. Like its cousin routes, the Newark Plank Road and the Paterson Plank Road, it travelled over Bergen Hill and across the Meadowlands. It too was originally built as a colonial turnpike road as Hackensack and Hoboken Turnpike. The route mostly still exists today with some segments called another, earlier name, The Bergen Turnpike (the company receiving its charter on November 30, 1802).

Another plank road , the Newark Plank Road, was a major 19th century artery between the Hudson River and the then burgeoning city of Newark. This road name is no longer used, the route having been absorbed into other streets and freeways (Newark Avenue, Newark Street and Ferry Street).

By 1869 the Central Railroad of New Jersey Newark and New York Railroad Branch were running trains that mirrored the route. (The right of way through Bergen Hill is now used by Hudson-Bergen Light Rail West Side Branch)). Public Service Railway Line # 1 ran along much of route until replaced by bus service. Today NJ Transit's #1 line runs along the route.
Generally, plank roads fell into history, but many still lie forgotten underneath today's paved roads.

During some construction, the City of Fayetteville, North Carolina, uncovered the log foundation of the Fayetteville Plank Road in the downtown area. One of the longest plank roads, it had been built in 1849 to connect this once remote area with current day Winston-Salem - 129 miles away!

Gone but not forgotten, today's homeowners and businesses build small plank bridges over streams and flower beds with Cedar planks and pine arches. A six or eight-foot bridge can hold 500 pounds.

Pedestrian plank footbridges lead the way into forests and over swampy areas in parks. Although not well known after all these decades, the original Plank Roads of the 19th and early 20th centuries had a prosperous impact on our economy and led to the need for the better, less costly roads we now enjoy.

And, locally there's always that sign "The Paterson Plank Road" near the Meadowlands.

Eric Model explores the "offbeat, off the beaten path overlooked and forgotten" on SIRIUS-XM Radio and at journeysinto.com.