Interstate 95

A road trip through time down the eastern seaboard

"From horseback to stagecoach, and into the front seat of the family station wagon, Dianne Perrier takes readers on a wonderful journey along the trails, plank roads, and macadamized routes of yesteryear--laying the historical foundation for the I-95 super slab of present day."--Michael Karl Witzel, author of Barbecue Road Trip: Recipes, Restaurants, & Pitmasters from America's Great Barbecue Regions



Stretching from Maine's Canadian border almost all the way to the Florida Keys, Interstate 95 traverses fifteen states, plus the District of Columbia, and links the cities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Richmond, Fayetteville, Savannah, Jacksonville, and Miami--to name but a few. At more than 1,900 miles, it's one of the longest and most heavily travelled (11 million vehicles per year) roads in the country.

For both snowbirds and spring-breakers, I-95 is an escape route to sand and sunshine. Travelers may complain about heavy traffic, poor road conditions, and delays, but as Dianne Perrier points out in this fascinating cultural history of the I-95 corridor, such has always been the case.

The pace of travel--and life--is faster now, so it's hard to imagine that Longfellow was inspired to write his famous poem about Paul Revere by an evening spent at a tavern along the road that would eventually be served by I-95. Perrier reminds us of the profound and mundane events that took place along the