text: About this lesson ~ Building the B&O Railroad
  This lesson is based on the National Register of Historic Places registration files, "Baltimore & Ohio Transportation Museum and Mount Clare Station," "Thomas Viaduct, Baltimore & Ohio Railroad," "Carrollton Viaduct," "Ellicott City Station," and other source materials on the development of 19th-century transportation. TwHP is sponsored, in part, by the Cultural Resources Training Initiative and Parks as Classrooms programs of the National Park Service. This lesson is one in a series that brings the important stories of historic places into the classrooms across the country.
  Topics: This lesson is useful for units aimed at teaching about the process of westward expansion and industrialization during the 19th century. It focuses on the geographic challenges faced by the nascent railroad industry and the technology employed to surmount these challenges. The activities are designed to reinforce student skills of observation, critical thinking, and interpretation related to the history of transportation and technology.
  Relevant Maryland Voluntary State Curriculum Standards for Social Studies Education
  Indicator 1.Use geographic tools to locate and construct meaning about places on Earth
  Objective a. Compare physical characteristics of different places and regions of Maryland and the United States including natural/physical features, weather and climate, soil, vegetation, minerals and animal life
  1. To describe the extremely difficult obstacles workers of the B&O Railroad faced while building the railroad
  Three readings about the origins of the B&O and its competition with other transportation technologies.
  Five images illustrating the concept of road to rail transportation technology and the birth of the B&O Railroad.