The Maria Furnace Road

The Maria Furnace Road. Nichols Gap Road and The Gateway to Appalachia. , The Maria Furnace Road, as it is called locally, has a history that dates to the 1700’s. In 1747, a packhorse trail known as the Great Wagon (Nichols Gap) Road from Philadelphia branched off at modern day New Oxford, and ran through the modern towns of Gettysburg and Fairfield. From Fairfield, the road entered into South Mountain and traversed through here, moving off the mountain and connected at Williamsport, MD, where other forks of the wagon road connected, and ran southward into the Shenandoah Valley and Appalachia., Foot traffic widened the path, and wagons soon traveled upon it, as migrants sought a better life in Appalachia. Many Conestoga wagons, two wheeled carts being pulled by oxen, and several pairs of horses were a common sight on Nicholas Gap Road. The sounds of hooves and rattling chains were quite common. Life wasn’t easy for travelers. Many times, wagons or carts broke down, supplies were exhausted, and sickness overtook the travelers. On average, five miles could be covered in a single day, as immigrants moved to the fertile farm lands of Appalachia., In 1787, Nichols Gap Road became an official Pennsylvania highway and was improved by several working parties who made repairs to the road for decades to come. It was later renamed the Hagerstown Road., By the late 1930’s, a new road was being created called the Sunshine Trail or Route 16. Bulldozers hit this section where a quarry was located. During the 1940’s, Maria Furnace Road was abandoned since the new road (Route 16) was completed, ending 200 years of being a major highway.