German farmers were already hauling grain to the port of Baltimore when Fredericktown was founded in 1745, and by the 1780s new communities were rising along busy wagon routes. Two speculators, Nicholas Hall and William Plummer, competed to sell lots along a strip of road a one-day wagon trip east of Frederick, and when Hall sold the first nineteen lots on June 1, 1793, New Market was born. It soon became a major stop on a public road, and after 1805 the all-weather Baltimore and Frederick-Town Turnpike became the first leg of the National Road. During the next three decades, more than three million travelers used the road, paying 25 cents for lodging and 5 cents for a whiskey at New Market's eight hotels and taverns. In the 1800s New Market was known for its many fine hotels, including the Utz Hotel and the National Hotel, and today the historic village still welcomes travelers to antique shops, restaurants, and a small general store where provisions can still be bought.