Before Interstate 68 paved a path through the forests of Western Maryland, and even before Highway 40 snaked its way through Maryland’s wooded hills and into Pennsylvania, there was another path West, blazed by a British general, Edward Braddock. In the summer of 1755, General Braddock set out from Fort Cumberland, at what is today the city of Cumberland, on his way to Pittsburgh to do battle with the French over control of North America.
Braddock lost that battle, but his journey can still be traced 260 years later. Bob Bantz, a member of the Western Maryland chapter of the Archeological Society of Maryland, has tracked the path of Braddock’s expedition out of Cumberland. He joins Sheilah by phone from there.
Audio for this segment will be available by the end of the day.
