Howardsville Turnpike (historic road)

The bells gave you away on the Howardsville Turnpike. Wagon teams crossing the Blue Ridge in the 1850s carried sets of bells on their harnesses — and if your wagon got mired and another team pulled you free, the bells were forfeit. The more bells you arrived with, the better driver you were. That was the road: a point-to-point route of even grade cut through steep mountain terrain, hauling grains, tobacco, pig iron, cattle, and whole flocks of turkeys east toward the James River and the canal system beyond.