Explore Route One, a unique highway with great places to visit on your road trip.

Founded in 1916, Acadia NP  has 77 square miles to visit by car, on horseback, hiking, kayaking, or biking. It is the only National Park in the Northeast US and includes the highest point on the East Coast, Cadillac Mountain. Financed by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in the early 20th Century, Acadia boasts 45 miles of rustic carriage roads where 4M visitors a year go biking, hiking, and horseback riding. A 26-mile loop road for motor vehicles winds along the rocky coastline below Bar Harbor.

Portland has a creative economy that has grown from its maritime traditions since its founding in 1632. One of the northernmost Civil War battles took place in 1863 in Portland Harbor. Just below the Maine College of Art, and Monument Square, the Old Port is now the city’s fastest-growing and most visited area.

Across the St. John River is New Brunswick, Canada. Over 60% of Fort Kent residents regularly speak French. The town receives 8 feet of snow on average each year. Biathlon, Dog sled races, and Muskie tournaments are held here regularly.

Coastal 1a is a winding coastal highway, dotted by stately summer homes with beautiful views of the water. The best views can be found in Rye and North Beach.

Further south, in Hampton Beach, the cooling towers of Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant come into view. Seabrook was approved in 1972 but experienced repeated delays. The 1979 meltdown of Three Mile Island caused 11 years of additional delay before it gained re-approval and generated power.

The Portsmouth colony sourced lumber from inland and harvested fish from the Atlantic. Beginning in 1640, its industries used slave labor to build much of its prosperity during the Colonial era. Paul Revere rode from Boston to Portsmouth in December of 1774 to falsely warn of an impending raid by the British Army. The Sea Coast’s main city has flourished as a tourist destination since Route 1 was founded.

Yokens regularly filled all 400 seats in its restaurant beginning in 1947. Even with the lure of “Dollar Dinners”, Yokens eventually fell out of favor.  In 2004, it was sold, demolished, and developed into Yokens Commons, a strip mall. 

In 2015, the original neon sign was restored and lit up on Route 1 next to the entrance to the mall. People still regularly pull in, asking “Where’s the restaurant?”

To meet traffic demands from northern suburbs, Route 1 was diverted in the 1950s from 2 lanes along Broadway through Everett onto a modern 4-lane limited access highway that wound through Saugus, Revere, and Chelsea, before crossing the Mystic River into Charlestown via the Tobin Bridge.

The Saugus section of the “Super-4” roadway became renowned for enormous restaurants like the Kowloon and the Hilltop, miniature golf courses, and large shops that competed with downtown stores. Fading pieces of these uses are still evident today.

Boston’s roots are deep. Founded in 1630 from the failing settlement of Charlestown, the city was the site of important events like the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, and the ride of Paul Revere before the War for Independence. Today it is a center for higher education and the preeminent hub for biotechnology in the world.

Developed in Foxborough in 2007, Patriot Place has 1.3 million square feet of retail space adjacent to Gillette Stadium, where the New England Patriots play their home football games. The Patriots Hall of Fame is part of the complex, too. Showcase opened a 14-screen cinema. Bass Pro Shops opened the first Mega-store, which features an animatronic shooting range and a 34,000-gallon freshwater aquarium.

Some of Rhode Island’s best beaches to visit in the summertime are along the southern end of Narragansett Bay.  Scarborough State Beach, Roger Wheeler State Beach, and Narragansett Town Beach are popular for day trippers and season-long residents alike. Most of the environs are very casual, and the upscale housing is understated, having been there for generations.

Founded in 1636 by renegade preacher Roger Williams, Providence was a refuge for those seeking religious freedom. The Moshassuck and Woonasquatucket Rivers converge in the city to form the Providence River which runs to the head of Narragansett Bay. Today, these waters are prime recreational and green spaces in Rhode Island’s State capitol.

Samuel Slater was an industrial spy operating after the War for Independence. England closely guarded its water-powered cotton-spinning technology. However, Slater, who worked for 7 years in an English spinning mill, was able to emigrate to the US with this knowledge. 

He soon went to work for Moses Brown who had built a spinning mill that was not operational. By 1790, Slater was able to get the mill running, and Pawtucket became the cradle of water-powered industry in the US. Today, the National Park Service runs a visitors center there.

Back when Connecticut was a British colony, town centers were communal areas for grazing livestock, worshiping, purchasing goods, and receiving news from afar. Eventually, farm animals were excluded, and the Greens became well-kept public spaces. Memorials to town residents who served the public good are often placed there.

Bridgeport, “The Park City” is Connecticut’s largest city. Showman P.T. Barnum was Bridgeport’s most famous mayor.  Barnum’s circus spent many of their winters in Bridgeport. He gave land to the city for Seaside Park, where there’s a memorial statue of Barnum facing Long Island Sound. 

Barnum is buried with his sidekick “Tom Thumb” in Bridgeport’s Mountain Grove Cemetery. After WWII, many of the city’s largest employers left, causing a long period of economic depression and urban blight. Recent years have seen a good reversal of this trend. Bridgeport is one of the most culturally diverse metro areas in the US.

Stew Leonard’s chain of grocery stores started as Clover Farms Dairy in the early 1920s, with a state-of-the-art pasteurizing and bottling plant. Leonard’s theatrical marketing began early; dairy trucks delivered milk daily with mooing cow heads sticking out of the windshield. By 1969 milk trucks were obsolete, so the founder’s son, Stew Leonard, built their first retail store in Norwalk.

Matt Lambros has spent most of his adult life exploring old theaters. In the case of NYC, many have been lost to the wrecking ball or abandoned, but a few have been lucky enough to have been refurbished or repurposed.

“The Big Apple” grew from a colonial Dutch outpost into an international metropolis at the center of the original 13 colonies. NYC boasts fabulous bucket list landmarks like Broadway, Times Square, the Empire State Building, Central Park, the United Nations, NYC Museums, Rockefeller Center, 5th Avenue stores, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden, and Grand Central Station. No wonder it gets 60M+ visitors each year!

Serving customers daily since 1992, the Nautilus Diner is a fixture on Boston Post Road. The expansive menu includes Italian and Greek specialties and a bevy of great breakfast offerings.

Iconic, nostalgic, and uniquely American, diners have a special place on Route 1. Drivers pull in for all-day breakfasts, tempting baked goods, a huge menu from which to choose, and a decent value. Most locals will argue about which diner is the best, but it is best to try as many for yourself and then decide!

Route 1 runs through the middle of Linden. In addition to the ubiquitous gas stations, convenience stores, and big box stores, you’ll see the oldest oil refinery on the East Coast, one of the largest burial grounds in NJ, and an abundance of used truck lots and junk yards that provide parts to the New York metro area. Back in the neighborhoods, Linden has businesses and institutions that reflect a legacy of hosting immigrants from the world over, who came to America to seek a better life.

The current “TRENTON MAKES – THE WORLD TAKES” sign is nine feet six inches high and 334 feet long. The last of the unreliable neon lettering was removed in 2017 when new LED lights were installed. The LEDs can change color, and follow an annual color scheme schedule established by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission.

The Brandywine Valley has been an important settlement since colonists began settling here in the late 17th Century, breaking William Penn’s treaty with the Lenape Indians.  Important battles were fought here during the Revolutionary War.

The Betsy Ross House, the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, the Battle of Germantown, Elfreth’s Alley, cheesesteaks, soft pretzels, scrapple, water ice, tastycakes, hoagies, and Rocky all belong to the City of Brotherly Love.  William Penn laid out the city in 1681 on a grid pattern with 5 public squares, and it became the most populous colonial city. Lonely Planet and CBS News ranked Philly as the #1 city to visit in the US in 2023.

Like Acadia National Park to the North, Longwood began as a playground for a wealthy family and was opened to the public decades later. The du Pont family made their fortune selling gunpowder and chemicals. Pierre du Pont could afford to save a 401-acre arboretum in 1906 and begin his private garden the following year. In 1937, du Pont began opening the gardens to the public, and by 1946, the Longwood Foundation, run by Trustees took over the operation of the Gardens.

With an operating budget of more than $2B, UMD has an enormous impact on Southern Maryland. Because of its proximity to Washington, DC, the flow of research funding has increased substantially since its re-opening after the Civil War with 11 students. Its current enrollment exceeds 40,000.

Baltimore often gets overlooked as a fine place to visit because of its proximity to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and NYC.

The center of activity in Baltimore shifted in the 1980s when the Rouse Co. remade the Inner Harbor, and the National Aquarium was established as a tourist anchor.

Gritty neighborhoods like Fells Point evolved into trendy enclaves. Fort McHenry, which inspired the lyrics to “The Star Spangled Banner” in 1812, Edgar Allan Poe’s home, and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum provide a continuum of deep historical context to the city.

Before the Susquehanna River empties into the Chesapeake Bay, it is sequestered by the Conowingo Dam. More than 570 megawatts of hydroelectric power has been generated there by 11 turbines since 1928 when renewable energy wasn’t a buzzword! The dam attracts birds of prey below the dam because fish are attracted to the highly oxygenated water in the outfall.  Bald eagles and ospreys are regularly photographed downstream by countless birders.

Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy. Jefferson Davis, Confederate President, is buried in Richmond. Despite the presence of the VA government, the Federal Reserve, Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Richmond, and the amenities of a 21st Century City, the city still seems burdened by its role in the Civil War.

Northern Virginia, directly across the Potomac from Washington, D.C. is home to the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery. 2017 Amazon selected Crystal City for its HQ2, setting off wild speculation and a building boom. Because of COVID, the original vision for Crystal City has not been realized, but Amazon’s presence is still distinctive.

18,000 Confederate dead are interred here, including Gen. George Pickett and 3,000 others, who were brought from the Gettysburg Battlefield. Confederate President Jefferson Davis has an elaborate memorial where he is interred.

Some of the greatest golf courses built in the early 20th Century are along Route 1 in NC. Pinehurst and Southern Pines could be reached by rail before Route 1, but during the Great Depression, wealthy Northerners took to their automobiles for leisure travel more and more.  Pinehurst has 10 courses and is North America’s largest golf resort.

Raleigh is the Capital of North Carolina. NC State University began on Hillsborough St., which was originally Route 1. Durham and Chapel Hill comprise the other 2 corners of the Research Triangle, which rose to prominence in the late 1990s. Today, Raleigh has a very active music and foodie scene, which garners national attention.

Originally known as North Carolina Motor Speedway, Rockingham was a one-mile oval with flat turns that opened in October 1965. The road of ownership has been rough for most of the history of the track, including the loss of sponsorships, foreclosures, and forced sales.  Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) was filmed at Rockingham Speedway.

A 10 to 35-mile-wide ecoregion of sandhills stretches from Pinehurst, NC into Georgia. Route 1 follows these sandhills past the Carolina Sandhills Wildlife Refuge near Bethune. The distinctive sandy soil is host to unique flora and fauna.

In addition to the State House, Columbia is home to the University of South Carolina, giving it a distinct college-town flavor. The Congaree Vista district was created to encourage the preservation and reuse of historic buildings along Gervais Street (Route 1) during the 1990s and 2000s. The Gervais Bridge over the Congaree River was the widest road in SC when it opened in 1928. Two-thirds of Columbia burned during the Civil War.

Born John Birks Gillespie in 1917, “Dizzy” began playing the trumpet at age 12, three years after Route 1 came through Cheraw. Today, a park and sculpture garden adorn the lot where his childhood home stood, and Gillespie’s statue stands on the town green in the heart of the town of about 5,000 people.

A third of pecans produced in the US come from Georgia. These native American trees have been planted for commercial orchards since the 1890s, and some of the 100+ year old trees are still producing! 

The 200,000 acres of pecan orchards production varies with weather conditions, but about 100 million pounds are produced in Georgia annually. Nuts are harvested in October and November.

The third largest city in the State, Augusta sits at the last navigable point of the Savannah River and the southernmost point of the Piedmont Escarpment. 

“The Garden City” hosts The Masters at Augusta National Golf Course, one of professional golfing’s biggest prizes. In the late 1800s, Augusta earned a reputation for hospitality and its warm climate, welcoming snowbirds via rail from the North for polo, golf, and socializing. Augusta is the hometown of soul singer James Brown.

Over 400,000 acres of wetlands are spread across the Georgia-Florida state line. Travelers flock to the visitors center (run by a for-profit business for the National Park Service), for the interpretive displays and rides into the swamp. Gator peeping at its finest, from the safety of elevated boardwalks and towers. The comic strip “Pogo” was set here.

The Space Coast is home to NASA’s manned spaceflight program, the Space Shuttle, and SpaceX. Cape Canaveral near Melbourne offers regular opportunities to observe launches and is host to space-related tourist attractions where you can gape at the big rocket ships.

Miami is one of the most international cities in North America, host to a large Cuban community, centered in Little Havana. Over half the city speaks Spanish. The Wynwood Walls, Art Deco design, and beachfront property are big attractions in the 9th largest metro area in the country.

Only 1 mile wide and 4 miles long, this little island is packed with places to visit, to relax, and remember. The southern terminus of Route One is in the Old City. 

Once the province of pirates and shipwreck divers, the island was first accessible by rail in 1912. The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 destroyed the rail line and set the stage for creating an overseas highway. In 1936, Route 1 was extended 113 miles down the Overseas Highway from Miami.