Alan D. Watson is professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. One of North Carolina's most prolific historians, he has authored more than fifteen books and numerous articles on various topics in the Tar Heel State's colonial and revolutionary history.

Examines state-funded transportation improvements from the early years of the nineteenth century to the start of the Civil War. Individual chapters are devoted to roads, bridges, inland navigation, canals, inlets, railroads, and steam navigation. This book is available in an eBook edition under the title Transportation in Antebellum North Carolina.