At the beginning of the 1920s, there were 8 million registered automobiles in the United States. By the end of the decade, that number had bounded to 23 million. Motorists joined the farmers and bicyclists already lobbying for more and better roads. States received Federal assistance to build roads under the Federal Highway Act of 1921, and the government also began planning a public highway system. Millions of Americans took to the road for business and pleasure. Scenic routes, like the Mohawk Trail in Western Massachusetts, fed the back-to-nature movement while allowing Americans to indulge their growing love affair with the automobile. The Hairpin Turn depicted on this postcard of the Mohawk Trail was (and remains) one of the route’s most famous stops.