Death Along the Highway-Part I: The Boydton Plank Road

South of the Appomattox River in Petersburg, Virginia, Route 1 keeps mostly to the old Boydton and Petersburg Plank Road, more commonly known just as the Boydton Plank Road. This was the first all-weather route which connected the tobacco and wheat farms of Southside Virginia with the markets at the growing city of Petersburg, and for transhipment to markets in other parts of the Commonwealth. Prior to the road being built, the delays in transporting crops over the muddy roads reduced the market value of the crops. The Boydton Plank Road was built between 1851-1853, between Petersburg and town of Boydton (near the border with North Carolina). Originally, it was intended that the road would be “macadamized” (a process to hard-surface roads by placing crushed granite in an underlayer covered with lighter stone and compacted down) but the lack of local stone made that plan unfeasible. One-foot wide oak and pine planks (3-4 inches thick) were laid across the 8 feet of roadway, supported by parallel beams; the structure was slanted towards a ditch to prevent the pooling of water. The design and construction proved their worth after the opening of the road to travel by producing an increase in the revenues brought by the crops of 30-100%. By the summer of 1864, the fighting between the Union and Confederate armies had reached the area of Petersburg. The Civil War was in its final act. In March of 1865, the Boydton Plank Road had become one of the last supply routes for the beleaguered Army of Northern Virginia, which was desperately defending and protecting its lifelines. The Union armies (the Army of the Potomac and the smaller Army of the James) were driving southwestwardly attempting to cut these lifelines and to outflank the Confederate army out of its outstretched entrenchments. In Part II, I will write about why the Boydton Plank Road became important and one of the first battles over possession of the road.