During the American Civil War, the turnpike was used in 1861 by Union troops to move to take control of western Virginia.

The construction, funded partly by the selling of stock, was delayed by multiple instances of mismanagement and conflicts of interest.

However, much of the modern highway is located in the bottoms of valleys and no longer follows the old alignments along the ridge tops.

Thus, much of the bypassed section remains in essentially original condition[4] The preserved 10 mile long segment was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.

This article about a property in Braxton County, West Virginia on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub.