Jug Bridge

In 1800, travelers expected to ford rivers or use ferries that were slow and often risky in bad weather. The Baltimore and Frederick-Town Turnpike Company, building the first leg of the National Road in 1805, set out to revolutionize American roads. One result was a five-arch stone bridge across the Monocacy River, built by Leonard Harbaugh in 1808 at a cost of $55,000. Harbaugh's signature was a distinctive stone demijohn placed on the bridge's east end, giving the span its name, Jug Bridge. A demijohn was a popular bulbous, thin-necked bottle that often held whiskey, and rumors persist that a real jug of whiskey was planted inside the stone version. The bridge served well into the automobile era, but a collapse in 1942 led to a new bridge. In December 1824, the Frenchman Marquis de Lafayette crossed Jug Bridge as he entered Frederick on his triumphal U.S. tour fifty years after the Revolutionary War.

Maryland · United States