Yellow brick road
The actual road is believed to be one in Peekskill, New York, where L. Frank Baum attended Peekskill Military Academy. According to a local legend, the Yellow Brick Road was derived from a road paved with yellow bricks near Holland, Michigan, where Baum spent summers. Ithaca, New York, also makes a claim for being Frank Baum's inspiration. He opened a road tour of his musical, The Maid of Arran, in Ithaca, and he met his future wife Maud Gage Baum while she was attending Cornell University. At the time, yellow bricks paved local roads. Yellow brick roads can also be found in Aberdeen, South Dakota; Albany, New York; Rossville (Baltimore County), Maryland; Montclair, New Jersey (Parkhurst Place and Afterglow Way); Bronxville, New York (on Prescott and Valley roads); Chicago, Illinois; Liberal, Kansas; Sedan, Kansas and Chittenango, New York, as well as a school in Abington, Pennsylvania, and abroad in Sofia, Bulgaria.
U.S. Route 60
From Charleston, US 60 heads southeast on its own course apart from Interstate 64, its replacement. The road first follows the Kanawha River to its source at Gauley Bridge, where US 60 then climbs out of the river valley and follows a twisting path through Rainelle and back to Interstate 64 at Sam Black Church. This stretch was the last section of US 60 to be bypassed by the Interstate system in West Virginia. I-64 between Beckley and Sam Black Church, West Virginia, was not completed and open to traffic until July 15, 1988. Due to its location, many miles away from I-64, US 60 still serves a large amount of traffic through the central part of the state, even though I-64 has replaced the highway for most through traffic. From the early 1970s, when I-64 was completed through Charleston to the West Virginia Turnpike until 1988, all east-west I-64 traffic was routed onto the mostly two lane U.S. 60 from Charleston to Sam Black Church where I-64 resumed. During this time U.S. 60 was signed by W.V.D.O.T. with a U.S. 60 shield and a "to I-64(east or west)" sign in order to assure travelers they would eventually return to the interstate highway by following the federal designated route. This stretch of highway from Charleston to Sam Black Church is significant as it was the second to last segment of U.S. highway to be replaced by an interstate (of the original 1960s grid plan).
From Sam Black Church east through Lewisburg to White Sulphur Springs, US 60 lives in the shadow of I-64 and carries a very small amount of traffic. Just east of White Sulphur Springs, US 60 joins I-64 for the last in the state before they enter Virginia at Allegheny Mountain.