Traveling from Washington DC to Harpers Ferry and Pittsburgh

Today the route from the President’s House to Harpers Ferry would follow 17th Street, Connecticut Ave. to Massachusetts Ave. crossing Rock Creek to I-495 to I-270 to US 340.

Meriwether Lewis left the President’s House, now the White House, on an exploration that would establish the first transcontinental road coast-to-coast. As a parallel event, in 1919, 116 years after the first transcontinental crossing of the future United States, the U. S. Army, Motor Transportation Corps, traveled 3239 miles across the Nation, sometimes crossing the Trail of Lewis and Clark. American Road: The Story of an Epic Transcontinental Journey at the Dawn of the Motor Age, by Pete Davies describes the experience. While the 1919 route is shorter, the Lewis and Clark Journals are a parallel experience and challenges include a dog and other animals, extreme weather, lack of passable roads or terrain by an Army unit. Davies even describes participants “fun around the evening campfire” by future President and Military General Dwight D. Eisenhower, similar-to Drouillard’s story of the snake that gobbled like a turkey. Of course, there are differences in the two epic adventures, Lewis left the Presidents House without a record of any kind of ceremony and in-fact left hurriedly leaving a “pocketbook” and other items. ⁽¹⁾

The Motor Transportation Corps adventure started south of the White House Ellipse with a grand ceremony. Today there is large stone marker at the Ellipse along Constitution Avenue commemorating the starting point of the Motor Transportation Corps. There is no marker commemorating the Lewis and Clark Exploration that was planned and started at the White House.

Starting Point of 1919 U. S. Army Motor Transportation Journey at the Dawn of the Motor Age.

Marker with wreaths, center.

Courtesy: American Road by Pete Davis