eastern terminus of the great highway which should bind Ohio to
the Old Thirteen
Historic Cumberland, in Maryland, was chosen by Congress as the
eastern terminus of the great highway which should bind Ohio to
the Old Thirteen. Commissioners were appointed in 1806 to choose
the best route by which the great highway could reach the Ohio
River between Steubenville, Ohio and the mouth of Grave Creek;
but difficulties of navigation in the neighborhood of the Three
Sister Islands near Charlestown, or Wellsburg, West Virginia, led
to the choice of Wheeling, farther down, as a temporary western
terminus.