The Boydton and Petersburg Plank Road was built between 1851 and 1853 with funding from stock bought by the state as well as the public. This all-weather toll road increased the transportation of crops to market and carried stagecoach traffic between Boydton and Petersburg. It was constructed of pine and oak planks eight feet long, one foot wide, and three to four inches thick laid across parallel beams and slanted slightly to improve drainage. A ten-foot-wide shoulder allowed vehicles to pass each other. By 1860 the road, except for an 1856 extension to Clarksville, was declared unsafe because of heavy wear, poorly suited untreated lumber, and the collapse of the Meherrin River Bridge.