Yesterday’s Highways (America’s Historic Highways)

Product Description

Relive the history of the American highway from its origins in the era of the covered wagon through the age of the interstate.

Illustrated with more than 400 images from roads across the country,
Yesterday’s Highways takes you back to the old auto trails that paved the way for the first federal highway system. You’ll visit the diners, motels, filling stations and quirky roadside haunts of yesteryear. From White Castle to Howard Johnson’s, learn about how the American road served up burgers and coffee and blue-plate specials to weary truckers and vacationing families.

Journey back to the age of auto camps and revisit the time when mom-and-pop motel courts ruled the side of the road. Before the advent of off-ramps and car-pool lanes, highways zigzagged through downtowns, turning at stop signs and following rail lines. Cars chugged along at 15 mph over gravel roads and narrow, concrete ribbons with dozens of hairpin turns. Drivers were treated to barn ads and billboards and Burma-Shave signs. The Lincoln Highway. Route 66. Highway 99. El Camino Real. The Great Valley Road.

Travel back in time and experience what made these roads and so many others the lifeblood of the American experience.

Yesterday’s Highways is the first in the America’s Historic Highways series. A companion volume,
America’s First Highways, is also available.

Review

“…a fact-filled, entertaining and nostalgic look at U.S. highways. … Both volumes (
Yesterday’
s Highways and
America
‘
s First Highways) prove well-written with few weaknesses. … 
Yesterday’s Highways gets into the nuts and bolts of the early U.S. highways, such as the development of bridges, gas stations, truck stops, diners, restaurants, motels, theaters, roller rinks, bowling alleys, miniature golf, billboards and tourist traps. … Recommended”

– Ron Warnick, route66news.com
 

“Both books (
America’s First Highways and 
Yesterday’s Highways)
 are well-researched, nicely written, and illustrated with good black and white photographs, and both contribute importantly to highway literature.”

– Wayne Shannon, 
Jefferson Highway Declaration, Autumn 2020

From the Author

My books on California’s highways 99 and 101 left me hungry for more history about our nation’s roads during their golden age, the mid-20th century. So I set off on a “bucket list” journey along the Lincoln Highway, Route 66 and other highways, accompanied by my trusty camera. This book is the result of that trip, and many adventures over the past few years, together with new research that provides an overview of a nation’s history on a ribbon of asphalt… and time.

About the Author

Stephen H. Provost is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience as a reporter and editor. During his career, he’s traveled countless roads on his way to one assignment or another. Most recently, he covered the reconstruction of the Pacific Coast Highway south of Big Sur after a massive mudslide sent the old road crashing into the ocean.

Provost is the author of two other books on America’s roads:
Highway 99: The History of California’s Main Street and
Highway 101: The History of El Camino Real. He’s also written histories of the cities of Fresno, Calif., and Martinsville, Va., as well as an exploration of failed sports leagues in the 20th century and a biography of women’s pro basketball great Molly Bolin.

In addition to his work in historical nonfiction, Provost has produced several works of fiction, including
The Academy of the Lost Labyrinth,
The Memortality Saga,
The Only Dragon,
Identity Break and
Nightmare’s Eve. A native of Central California, he lives in southern Virginia.