“Oh, the Places You Will Go” - Dr. Ed Iannuccilli

“Oh, the Places You Will Go” - Dr. Ed Iannuccilli

I was chatting with my friend Mike last week and he mentioned that when he was a kid, his family vacationed on Cape Cod every summer, traveling from their home in Pennsylvania and picking up Rte. 6 in Rhode Island for the final leg. Route 95 did not exist.

I remember our day trips from Providence to the Narragansett shore, much shorter than Mike’s travel, but how terribly slow and painful. The two-lane roads simply could not handle the traffic. “Dad, are we there yet?” drove my father crazy. “Dam kids! Quiet. Be patient. I’ll take you the hell home!” I appreciate today that the best parts of the travel were the anticipation of our arrival and the ice cream stop on our way home.

Some weeks ago, as I was barreling east along Rte. 6 in Massachusetts after leaving the Best Buy at the Seekonk Mall, I noticed a sign, “GAR Highway.” Interesting.

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Rte. 6 was once a main route in the U.S. highway system and the longest highway in the country. From 1936 to 1964, its western terminus was Long Beach, California. Imagine. Who knew?

While it currently runs east-northeast from Bishop, California, to Provincetown, Massachusetts, the route has been modified, basically chopped up, several times. And the GAR designation?

Linking men through their experience of the war, the GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) became among the first organized advocacy groups in American politics, supporting voting rights for black veterans, promoting patriotic education, helping to make Memorial Day a national holiday, and lobbying the United States Congress to establish regular veterans' pensions. Its peak membership, at 410,000, was in 1890, and a high point of various Civil War commemorations.

The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War began pushing for the name in April 1934. Massachusetts was the first state to apply the name on February 2, 1937. It was not until 1948 that all states had agreed. The highway was formally dedicated at the Long Beach end on May 3, 1953.

Major William L. Anderson, Jr. of the U.S. Army recommended that US 6 be designated the Grand Army of the Republic Highway to honor the American Civil War Veterans Association. The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (U.S. Navy), Marines and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil War. It was founded in 1866 and grew to include hundreds of local community units across the nation. It was dissolved in 1956 at the death of its last member, Albert Woolson (1850–1956) of Duluth, Minnesota.

There is much more to the history of this highway, but space does not allow for more in this column.

Writing of The GAR Highway reminded me of those road trips of our youth.

As Dr. Suess wrote:

“You’re off to great places,

Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting,

So, get on your way!”

Dr. Ed Iannuccilli is the author of three popular memoirs, “Growing up Italian; Grandfather’s Fig Tree and Other Stories”, “What Ever Happened to Sunday Dinner” and “My Story Continues: From Neighborhood to Junior High.”  Learn more here.