Back in the early- to mid-1800s, when the nation’s first federally funded interstate highway was laid, it was with a whipstitch combination of dirt, gravel, tree stumps and planks. Stretching 824 miles across six states between Maryland and Illinois, the road was often a snarl of carriages and Conestoga wagons, travelers on horseback and on foot, and herds of cattle and sheep, all kicking up clouds of dust and generally ignoring the right-of-way. Talk about road rage.
Although still heavily traveled, today’s National Road is much smoother, cleaner and scenic — particularly the segment running through Indiana — as both a state and national scenic byway. In 2008, the Model T Ford Museum roared into Wayne County, Indiana, as a fitting addition to a museum landscape that includes the log cabin Salisbury Courthouse in Centerville, the Wayne County Historical Museum in Richmond and the 1839 Huddleston Farm House Inn Museum in Cambridge City. The latter presents a slice of early Hoosier family-farming life and the experience of westward travelers along the National Road.
The Model T Ford Museum showcases more than a dozen vintage and beautifully restored vehicles, including a 1924 Model T Army ambulance, a 1924 snowmobile that is mounted on skis instead of wheels, a 1925 fire truck and a 1917 dump truck. The collection also features an English-built 1923 Model T right-hand-drive limo, which appears in the 1981 movie “Chariots of Fire.” Recent additions include one of the earliest Model Ts, a red car with white tires known simply as #337, a 1924 T Tractor and an unusual 1920s Lamsteed Kamp Kar designed for “auto-camping.” At more than 80 years old, the Kamp Kar is still in excellent condition — its Australian owners made the more than 2,100-mile journey from Los Angeles to Centerville in the early recreational vehicle.