Their objective: To unite fraternally all autocampers. Their mission: Bring a little nostalgia back to U.S. 40 with campers and RVs representing four decades.

The Tin Can Tourists, regularly featured on the Travel Channel, will be visiting Knightstown in conjunction with the 20th Anniversary of “Hoosiers.” Thirty RVs, representing the industry’s premiere manufacturers, including Airstream and Vagabond, will park at 11:30 a.m. Thursday at the Hoosier Gym.

This caravan, which begins Sunday at mile marker zero in Cumberland, Md., and ends at its original terminus in Vandalia, Ill., is not only a once in a lifetime opportunity for the participants, but a once in a lifetime opportunity for the country to see a collection of trailers that will never be seen again collectively traveling on the road or grouped at a viewing area.

TCT History

The Tin Can Tourists were organized at Desoto Park, Tampa, Fla., in 1919. They received their official state charter a year later. Their guiding principles were clean camps, friendliness among campers, decent behavior and to secure plenty of clean, wholesome entertainment for those in camp.

The group, known for the soldered tin can on their radiator caps, grew rapidly during the ‘20s and ‘30s.

Members could induct fellow campers through an initiation process that taught the prospective member the secret handshake, sign and password. After singing the official song "The More We Get Together" the trailerite was an official member of the Tin Can Tourists of the World.

By the mid-’70s the club was no longer in existence in any form, due to several factors, including the formation of the Automobile Tourists Association (ATA), an economic recession in 1939 that greatly diminished the number of trailer manufacturers, and the onset of World War II.

In 1998, Forrest and Jeri Bone renewed the club as an “all make and model vintage trailer and motor coach club.” By the end of the year, 50 members were accepted as charter members of the renewed version of the Tin Can Tourists. The group has grown steadily, currently holding annual gatherings in Michigan, Fla., and regional rallies at various locations in the U.S. Recently, regional representatives have been added to represent England, Japan and France.

National Road History

In 1806, an act of Congress allocated funds for George Washington’s dream of building an all-weather road across the Allegheny Mountains and into the heart of the frontier. President Thomas Jefferson signed the bill into law and The National Road, the nation’s first federally-funded interstate highway, was born. The road would eventually stretch for more than 800 miles and cross six states from its beginning at Baltimore, Md., to its termination at the Mississippi in East St. Louis, Ill.

Construction of the road began in 1811 at Cumberland, Md., extending the already existing route from the seaport of Baltimore. It was known first as The Cumberland Road but has since been known by several names including The Great National Pike, The Old National Road and The National Trail. It took more than 25 years to complete as it crept across Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and eventually Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Unlike many privately built roads of this era, this one was free to travel.

By 1818, the road had reached Wheeling, then part of Virginia. West of Wheeling, the route continued on the path of Zane’s Trace, the first road in Ohio. An important aspect of The Historic National Road is the fact that many of the earlier Indian trails and colonial routes were interwoven into the road alignment, thus preserving their legacy.

By the late 1830s, a lack of funds halted construction at the Ohio and Indiana border. In 1939, it finally reached Vandalia, then the Illinois state capital, and the western end of the road. It was later completed to East St. Louis, opening a link to the water route of the Mississippi.

In the 1850s, the increased popularity of railroads caused the road to go into decline. The National Road remained unimproved until the 1930s, when it was paved and renamed "Route 40."