Fun Facts

• #1 Historic Route 1 travels through most of the major cities along the East Coast: Miami, Jacksonville, Augusta, Columbia, Raleigh, Richmond, Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Newark, New York City, New Haven, Providence, Boston and Portland.
• #2 Located just off Historic Route 1 is Ferry Farm, Virginia, the boyhood home of George Washington. Ferry Farm inspired the fable about George cutting down his father's cherry tree and is the spot where George threw a stone (or was it a silver dollar?) across the Rappahannock River.
• #3 Ernest Hemingway wrote some of his best works while living on Historic Route 1, in the Florida Keys. These include "Death in the Afternoon," "For Whom the Bell Tolls," "To Have and Have Not," and "Green Hills of Africa."
• #4 Florida's John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park provides 178 square miles of ocean wonderland. Visitors can enjoy snorkeling, scuba diving, and sailing.
• #5 Lantana, Florida, is home to the National Inquirer and its sister publication, the Weekly World News.
• #6 Beltsville, Maryland, is home to the National Agricultural Library - part of the National Agricultural Research Center. The center covers 7,000 square miles and attracts scientists, researchers, and FBI and CIA employees.
• #7 Groton, Connecticut, is called the "Submarine Capital of the World."
• #8 In the 1980s, Historic Route 1 had a comic book named for it, titled US 1. The comic book lasted 12 issues.
• #9 The Franklin Mint - the leader in the multibillion-dollar instant collectibles industry - is located on Historic Route 1 in Pennsylvania.
• #10 Wawa is headquartered on Historic Route 1 in Pennsylvania.
• #11 The 250-mile Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race starts in Maine and heads into Canada.
• #12 New Haven, Connecticut, home to Yale University, could also be called the "city of gardens." It has some 70 gardens planted by residents and community groups.
• #13 The road that later became Historic Route 1 started as a trail during the 1600s. Burned trees marked the way, crude bridges crossed ravines, and canoe ferries transported goods and people across wider rivers. Later, the first horse carrier service would be established in New Jersey.
• #14 Dumfries, Virginia, is the state's oldest town.
• #15 Historic Route 1 is home to Fort Belvoir - headquarters of the Army Corps of Engineers - and the main gate to Quantico Marine Corps Base.
• #16 Historic Route 1 in South Carolina features Darlington Raceway, NASCAR's original super speedway, built in 1949.