The Path To Your Door

When America was first settled, small communities were established. Trading began, and soon a town was developed, with many shops offering a variety of goods and services that could be bought and sold. People began building their houses on the outskirts of the town, with new ones appearing, each one a little farther from town than the one before.

Transportation was mostly by horseback, and then later by horse and carriage. Repeated travel over the same route soon resulted in primitive roads, which were really little more than dirt pathways leading to and from town, as well as winding around and between the many houses. At that time, people were building their houses so that their doorways were, at most, six feet from the road. Horses, and the carriage if there was one, were then led around the side of the house to a covered shelter, which was commonly built at the same time as the house.

Sarah and Mason Brit built their house immediately after their marriage in 1820. They built it, as was the custom, directly on the road.

Shortly after moving in, Sarah began to complain bitterly about how she was sweeping the front porch and brushing the dust off her flower beds; dust caused by all the dirt that was kicked up by passing traffic. “Why, the carriage shelter is cleaner than my own house!” she often remarked.

One day Mason was watching Sarah labor at her sweeping and it struck him that she was right, the shelter remained clean, since it was far enough removed from the road that the dust settled before it got there. The carriage house was spotless, while the flowers were covered with a layer of dirt! “Sarah, we’re building a new house,” he said one evening as they sat in front of the fireplace.

And the new house was the only one in the area set back from the road, with a small covered shelter sitting off to the side, where the horses or carriage could be left. And over time the pathway from the road to the shelter became defined by the dirt tracks left by the carriages. This was the first driveway in America. Not only were the porch and yard dirt-free, but the Brits were alerted to visitors before they appeared at the door.

Sarah and Mason are no longer with us. Driveways are now paved and shelters are now garages. But it wasn’t always so.