Travel is people. You may go abroad to see the famous sites, but what you remember best are the people you meet. Among them, like unex-pected treasure, are a few memorable contacts that will make your travels unique, special, and delightful. "People" is devoted to some of those you may come in contact with during your Home At First travels.
 

This article first appeared in December, 2004, and was updated in October, 2010.

It seems most everywhere we go we run into his name: on bridges, on canals, on roadways, on harbors. There are towns named after him in England and Pennsylvania. We had to find out more about this man whose path we—and Home at First guests to England, Scotland, Wales, and Sweden—so often cross, the man the called "The Colossus of Roads".

THOMAS TELFORD didn’t invent the Industrial Revolution, but he was its first great star, a star of the order of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Bill Gates. He was the most glamorous and most sought after civil engineer of his time. He made engineering into a science and an art. He helped invent modern times, literally paving the way into the future. Like Elvis prepared the world for the Beatles, Telford caught the public’s imagination, making public acceptance easy for the geniuses that followed, especially Robert Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
          Telford was a lowlands Scot, born August 9, 1757, near Langholm, Dumfries & Galloway, a few miles from the English border, and mid-way between dramatic Hermitage Castle and the ill-fated town of Locherbie. In this region where sheep vastly outnumber people, Telford was the son of a poor shepherd, and helped support the family as a shepherd until becoming an apprentice stonemason at 14. From the family farm at Bentpath (west of the A7 on the B709 in Eskdale), Telford’s path led to Scotland, England, Wales, and Sweden, and always went uphill. The path led ultimately to Westminster Abbey, where Telford, who died September 2, 1834, aged 77, was buried among the great kings and citizens of Britain.
          Along the way, the path of Thomas Telford crossed many paths familiar to us at Home at First. Join us as we journey with Telford to some of the fascinating destinations we share.

Sweden: Telford’s reputation as a civil engineer and canal builder extended beyond Britain’s shores to Scandinavia. When King Karl XIII of Sweden chartered a company to build a great canal to connect his countries two major cities — and its two coasts — in 1810, the plan that would be used would be Thomas Telford’s. In 1806 Swedish naval officer and government minister Baltzar von Platen hired Telford as a consultant for his G๖ta (or Gotha) Canal project. When completed in 1832 — with the help of experienced British construction foremen — the canal was 114 miles long, more than 50% longer than Telford’s groundbreaking Caledonian Canal completed ten years earlier. Like the Caledonian Canal, the G๖ta Canal never achieved the goals of its planners. The

G๖ta Canal at S๖derk๖ping, Sweden. What
failed as Sweden's great commercial
highway today lures pleasure boaters
and day trippers to enjoy some of
the best of rural Sweden.
Photo ฉ Home At First