How did they travel in 1776?

Although there weren't motor vehicles, airplanes, or even steam technology at the time, there were various modes of transportation available to the Colonists. The most common mode, and the cheapest, was walking. People would travel by foot for extraordinary distances to get supplies or visit friends and family.



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At the beginning of the century, U.S. citizens and immigrants to the country traveled primarily by horseback or on the rivers. After a while, crude roads were built and then canals. Before long the railroads crisscrossed the country moving people and goods with greater efficiency.

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Prior to the mid-1800s, the primary modes of travel in America were either via foot, on horseback or using a horse-drawn conveyance. Benner pointed to the inefficiency of North America's first mail route between Boston and New York City using the Boston Post Road, originally an Indian trail.

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Before the invention of trains and automobiles, animal power was the main form of travel. Horses, donkeys, and oxen pulled wagons, coaches, and buggies. The carriage era lasted only a little more than 300 years, from the late seventeenth century until the early twentieth century.

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By the late 1910s, cities became inhospitable to the poor horse. Slippery asphalt was replacing dirt roads, neighborhoods began banning stables, and growers were opting for imported fertilizers instead of manure. As horses vanished, so did the numerous jobs that relied on the horse economy.

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To get from one place to another in the sixteenth century, people could go by foot, horse, or cart. The options were limited and no matter their choice, it was slow. Those who went by foot could make 20 to 30 miles a day depending on the conditions. By horse, a traveler could go 30 to 40 miles a day.

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