Linking 14 states, U.S. Route 1 stretched 2,500 miles from Fort Kent, Maine to Key West, Florida, when it was completed in 1938. For 40 years it flourished as the East Coast's premier highway during the golden age of motoring.

(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "A Journey Down Old U.S. 1," December 1984, National Geographic magazine)