Friday, August 2, 2019

Tag Frei continued:  The Tollhouse

Back in the day when Pennsylvania was the Northwest Wilderness, the one main route to the west from Philadelphia was more of a pack trail and on this road, John's second son Christopher, (b 1777-d 1823) worked as a teamster.
As more people pushed west the government improved the road, called the old (General) Forbes Road by allowing private citizens to improve sections with layers of rock and sheet asphalt and charge tolls to lessen the costs of improvements.
This Northern Turnpike collected tolls in 1818 until trains caused traffic to dwindle.
On the refurbished cabin there is a sign saying the builders bought the land from Christopher Herrold.

                                  Toll House Sign showing
                          Christopher Herrold as land owner

We were so excited to see Christophers name on this plaque. After Christopher married, he and his wife "worked land for themselves".  We know they owned this Millersburg land and later when buying Ohio land Christopher was listed as a yeoman, a land freeholder.

                                Tollhouse original chimney
                                          Tollhouse front

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