Sycamore Row is a stretch of road in

Carroll County, Indiana Carroll County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 20,155. The county seat is Delphi. Carroll County is part of the Lafayette, Indiana, Metropolitan Statistical Area. Histor ...

lined with

sycamore Sycamore is a name which has been applied to several types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms. The name derives from the ancient Greek ' (''sūkomoros'') meaning "fig-mulberry". Species of trees known as sycamore: * ''Acer pseudoplata ...

trees. The trees sprouted from sycamore logs placed in the 1830s as a

corduroy road A corduroy road or log road is a type of road or timber trackway made by placing logs, perpendicular to the direction of the road over a low or swampy area. The result is an improvement over impassable mud or dirt roads, yet rough in the bes ...

to cross swampy land on

Indiana State Road 29 State Road 29 is a north–south road in north-central Indiana. Route description The southern terminus of State Road 29 is at U.S. Route 421 and State Road 28 just south of the small town of Boyleston. Going north, it passes through Michi ...

. The site is noted by the Indiana Historical Bureau with a historical marker. Currently State Road 29 bypasses Sycamore Row and regular traffic does not travel over the road. The road section was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2023.

History

By 1837, the

Michigan Road The Michigan Road was one of the earliest roads in Indiana. Roads in early Indiana were often roads in name only. In actuality they were sometimes little more than crude paths following old animal and Native American trails and filled with sinkhol ...

had reached Logansport.Effects of the Michigan Road on Northern Indiana, 1830-1860; Leon M. Gordon II; /Indiana Magazine of History/I, Vol. 44, Issue 4, pp 277-402 The roadway consisted of leveled dirt and log bridges, which decayed with every rain and snow fall. By 1850 the state approved funding to have the road planked. The roadbed was leveled and then covered with a wooden structure. Planking consisted of log sills or sleepers, laid lengthwise along the outer edges. Crosswise, planks were nailed to the sleepers. The planks were thick. Each sleeper run could be up to in length. When necessary, multiple sleeper sections were linked end to end. Together, these planks provided a road free of dust and mud. With age, mud holes formed under the planks and sprayed outwards and up between the planks, making some sections of roadway impassible during the muddy season.http://www.historicmichiganroad.org; Historic Michigan Road Society, 4/1/2015 Because of the initial construction and continued maintenance expenses, plank roads became

toll roads A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or '' toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemente ...

or pikes. There was a toll booth at the south end of Sycamore Row in Deer Creek.

Authenticity questioned

While the Michigan Road is known to have been routed along what is now Sycamore Row, the explanation for why the road is now lined with sycamores has not been confirmed. The text of the historical marker has been under review since 2010.

References

External links

Indiana Historical Bureau: Indiana Historical Marker DatabasePhotograph of Sycamore RowPhotographs of Sycamore RowHistoric documentation
{{coord, 40, 36, 24.7, N, 86, 23, 28.6, W, type:landmark_region:US-IN, display=title Transportation in Carroll County, Indiana Streets in Indiana Historic trails and roads in Indiana National Register of Historic Places in Carroll County, Indiana