[1][2] The purpose of the turnpike was to provide access to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and points east from the South Branch Potomac River Valley.
[1] On Saturday February 2, 1850, the Virginia House of Delegates passed "an act to regulate the votes of Stockholders in the Moorefield and North Branch Turnpike.
"[4] For the fiscal year ending on September 30, 1854, the president, Daniel R. McNeill, and directors of the Moorefield and North Branch Turnpike reported to the Virginia Board of Public Works that the sum of $1,941.60 had been collected in tolls.
[6] The board further reported that due to the heavy rains in September, the turnpike was "greatly injured" and that to repair it would "require a large portion of the balance on hand to put it in proper order.
[7] Because the road was a strategic transportation corridor between the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and Romney, the Moorefield and North Branch Turnpike was the scene of military activity throughout the American Civil War.
[1][2][8][9][10][11][12] Another engagement occurred on October 26, 1861, at the Wire Bridge at Lower Hanging Rocks that carried the turnpike across the South Branch Potomac River between Grace and Blues Beach.
Night overtook us between Springfield and Green Spring and we pursued journey at the risk of being shot either by rebel malignants, who ambuscaded our pickets, or our own suspicious sentinels, who were posted all along the highway at short intervals.
[15] During the American Civil War, a United States military telegraph land line was in operation along the Moorefield and North Branch Turnpike on July 1, 1864.