Plank Road runs past the entrance to RiverBend and is a well paved and heavily traveled route. It has an interesting past as shown by this historical marker nearby.
North Carolinians developed plank roads in the late 1840s. These wooded highways were an improvement over rough, dirt roads and an important trade development. They can be thought of as the 1840's equivalent of the modern interstate system. Trade networks at the time consisted of plank roads, railroad hubs, and seaports. this effort was considered much needed, as one historian puts it, because plank roads could free “citizens from the bondage of primitive roads.”
More reading is available online at the Plank site. The historical markers site is also very interesting.
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