Superintendent William C. Lyon, Northfield Highway Department
The very early beginnings of the Northfield Highway Department can be traced back to the founding of the town in 1781. The first Town Meeting was held on Mill Hill Road and the unimproved roads used to get them there would have been as much a subject of conversation as our modern roads used today are now. Over the next hundred years, roads were improved and new ones added as the population grew and business ventures started. It was also necessary to have roads in order to sell your own products and purchase others from a distance. At right is an early twentieth-century rendition of the road that, in the form of a modern paved highway (Vermont Route 12A), still connects Northfield to her southern neighbor, Roxbury.
The method used to care for roads was pretty simple in that each resident living along the road was responsible for the upkeep of that section; later, the town required all able-bodied men to participate in road work. Many of them were farmers and had a team of horses that were very effective in delivering road materials as well as dragging them (see example at left). This dragging was done by the horses hitched to a log or beam and the dragging action would smooth the surface. Later on a clever guy developed the horse pulled grader, which could be used to carry material as well as smooth it.
Other improvements concerned cording a road or laying down logs perpendicular to the road bed. This would allow water to pass and provide a stable surface for the wagons. It must have been rough but speed was not a consideration in those days. Later on the log surface would be graveled thus smoother. Also rocks from cleared pastures were thrown in the mud to make a base (see example at right).
The roads were never plowed and only packed by the horses and sometimes by the drag. The roads were narrow and meant for only one lane with occasional turnouts to allow other traffic to pass. Later on they were rolled to pack the snow and this worked very well until spring arrived.
The Town of Northfield also started to build modern bridges, many of these covered to keep out the elements and preserve the wood. You can find reference to the highway crew “snowing” the covered bridges, which meant they shoveled the snow onto the bridge deck in order for the horse and sleigh to pass more easily. At left is the Slaughterhouse Road Covered Bridge, which is located in Northfield Falls.
Most of the roads in those days were gravel and it wasn’t until the 1930s that asphalt was used. As this was expensive, only the high-use roads were treated.
Over the years other road maintenance machinery was developed and just about every town took advantage of newer machinery and methods as the population traveled more and further.
The present Northfield Highway Department depends on history as well as the modern means that we rely on to keep you moving.
With the invention of the automobile and, in particular, the Ford Model T (seen at right), it became necessary to have better roads to travel on and the town started to budget for those improvements as well as to hire the help required. With the invention of the automobile, there were some clever farmers who adapted it for road work. Automobiles could be used for hauling material, dragging the horse-pulled grader, or just for an inspection ride.