Three Notch Road has served as the main highway between northern St. Mary's and Point Lookout since the days of Native Americans and later the English colonists. Its name is likely attributed to a 1704 law requiring "three notches of equal distance" to be marked on trees to indicate a road leading to a ferry. The road was laid out to bypass streams, waterways, and ravines, much as it still does three centuries later. It was reconstructed as modern MD Route 235 between 1923 and 1938, completely rebuilt during World War II to serve the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, converted into a four-lane divided highway between 1950 and 1985, and expanded to six lanes in the California and Lexington Park area in the early 2000s. In colonial times it was also known as Main road or "Phenix" or Patuxent path. Discussion of a hiking and biking trail on the railroad right-of-way began as early as the 1970s, planning began in the early 2000s, and the first phase opened in Charlotte Hall in June 2006, with the trail envisioned to run more than 25 miles from Charlotte Hall to Lexington Park for recreation and alternate transportation.