Roadways were constructed in early Dartmouth for reasons similar to those that inspire today’s construction projects: To get from Point A to Point B. 

But who cared for them and why they were constructed reflected a different time period. 

“Roads got built for all kinds of different reasons,’’ said historian Richard Gifford.

Gifford discussed the history of these roads Sunday, Oct. 3 during “Highways of Old Dartmouth.’’ The talk, part of the Sunday lecture series sponsored by the Dartmouth Historical and Arts Society, was held at the Russells Mills Village Schoolhouse.

Sometimes the early roads were built, he said, because someone complained. 

In 1705, Ebenezer Allen griped to selectmen that he had no way to travel from his house to the Apponagansett Meeting House on Russells Mills Road and the grist mill on Slades Corner Road. 

In response to Allen’s frustration, selectmen approved a road now known as Barney’s Joy Road.

Roads were cared for in early times either by the government, including early members of the Board of Selectmen, or proprietors, which Gifford compared to a shareholders association. These individuals would allocate land for roads and dole out parcels, Gifford said.

But there were differences in their responsibilities.

Since early times, the towns, acting through the selectmen, were responsible for all highway maintenance, and determining what highways to build and where, Gifford said. 

Proprietors did not have any capacity to assess taxes, and their business in distributing the land was largely completed before 1800.

Many of the roads were established in and around 1717 and 1718, according to historical records. 

Early roads tended to have two types, Gifford said. “Open ways’’ were created to be freely traveled. 

Passage on drift ways, on the other hand, was interrupted by gates for carts and horses to pass from one land owner’s property to the next.

Not unlike some areas of Dartmouth today, traveling through drift ways took time and required patience. 

A person traversing by horse and wagon would approach the gate, dismount from the horse, open the gate, travel through, then stop again to close the gate, he said.

All of these steps were needed to ensure that the property owner’s animals did not escape. Twenty driftways might be encountered to travel across town, Gifford noted.

“That was not a short trip and certainly not a pleasant one,’’ he said. 

No standard widths for roads were established, but the most common were four rods (66 feet) or two roads (33 feet), Gifford said. 

These roads were named for a variety of reasons, he said.

Some area roads, such as Cornell, Gifford and Howland roads, were named after families in the area.

Others remain mysterious, he said. Barney’s Joy Road was once listed in early deeds as Barn’s His Joy Road, though Gifford is “not sure why.’’ One possibility is that the “Barn’s’’ referenced in the deed is actually “Bairn,’’ a Scottish word for children, with the name reflecting a love for children.

Then there’s Sodom Road. 

According to history quoted by Gifford, a certain farm in the area had a “notorious reputation.’’ In the 1870s, a certain resort on the property was of “such character that it was called Sodom Place.’’

What happened at that resort is apparently lost to history, although, Gifford has written, theories abound. 

The road name could reflect the location of a tavern near the site, or possibly a house of ill repute, he has written.

The story behind the name may be lost to history but the road continues to wind its way through the lives of local travelers as it has for hundreds of years.