Let's Travel on US Highway 6 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Provincetown

Route 6 begins in Provincetown, travels along the Cape Cod National Seashore, and passes through Fall River before leaving Massachusetts near Seekonk.

Provincetown lies at the tip of Cape Cod. It was settled in 1700 and established as a town in 1727. While the year round population is small, in the summers the resort town greatly expands. It's historical claim to fame is that the Mayflower Compact was signed in Provincetown Harbor.

Plymouth is best known as the landing place for the Pilgrims in 1620. Fall River is probably best remembered for the Borden murders of 1892. Boston is the state capitol of Massachusetts. Several US Highways begin in Boston, including US 20 and Interstate 90.

Answer: Providence

You are in Providence, home to the state capitol. It takes up much of northern Rhode Island. It was first created in 1703.

Rhode Island only has three counties: Providence, Kent and Washington. There is a city of Bristol, but the county of Bristol is in neighboring Massachusetts. Providence is home to a large number of colleges, including Brown, a member of the Ivy League.

US 6 only goes 26 miles through Rhode Island. Much of that is in Providence and its surrounding suburbs. You pass fairly close to Jerimoth Hill, the highest point in the state (all 812 feet of it) before reaching the border near Quandock. Jerimoth Hill is about four miles north of US Hwy 6.

Answer: Insurance

Hartford was the base for many of the nation's largest insurance companies, earning it the nickname "Insurance Capital of the World". Las Vegas claims to be the Entertainment Capital, Detroit is the Automotive Capital (Motown) and HHouston claims to be the Energy Capital.

US 6 travels 1116 miles through Connecticut. You enter near South Killingly, travel through Hartford around the middle of the state, and enter New York near Danbury. For much of the route after Hartford, the road is known as th "Yankee Expressway." US Highway 6 merges with I-84 quite a bit in Connecticut.

Answer: Bear Mountain Bridge

Bear Mountain Bridge (aka Purple Heart Memorial Bridge) crosses the Hudson between Anthony's Nose and Fort Clinton. Route 6 passes through Bear Mountain State Park, which contains sections of the Appalachian Trail.

The bridge was renamed Purple Heart in 2018, but that is the ceremonial name. It was built as the Bear Mountain Bridge in 1924. For a brief time it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, until the Ben Franklin bridge in Philadelphia was built. It is both a National Historic Landmark and a Civil Engineering Historic Landmark.

The other bridges are farther north on the Hudson. Kngston Rhinecliff is the farthest noth. The Mid Hudson bridge is near Poughkepsie. Newburgh-Beacon takes Interstate 84 across the river.

In New York, the highway travels 78 miles from Brewster to Port Jervis. It gets very close to the tri-point where New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania intersect. At no point does US 6 enter New Jersey.

Answer: Susquehanna

The Susquehanna is near Scranton, hometown of former Vice President Joe Biden. US 6 goes along the river up to the Towanda area. The basin of the Susquehanna covers almost half of Pennsylvania. It is 464 miles long, starting in Cooperstown, New York and ending in the Chesapeake Bay.

The Delaware is the boundary between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. US 6 does cross it near Port Jervis, New York. The Monongahela flows between Pittsburgh and West Virginia, nowhere close to Highway 6. US 6 does travel along the Allgheny, near Warren in western Pennsylvania.

US 6 travels 406 miles through Pennsylvania, along the northern part of the state. Tou begin near Masnfield, then travel through the Tioga National Forest. The route is scenic up to Youngsville. The largest cty you pass through in the western part of the state is Meadsville. You exit near the appropriately named town of Pennline.

Answer: Rutherford Hayes

While all four presidents were from Ohio, Hayes is the one who lived in Fremont. It is is northwestern Ohio, southeast of Toledo. To visit Hayes' home and grave, take County Highway C east for two miles.

Hayes was president from 1877 to 1881. He is most notable for ending Reconstruction, which led to decades of Jim Crow repression in the southern United States. Hayes is also known for his advocacy of civil service reform. Most historians rank Hayes as an average president.

Garfield was president for only four months before he was shot in July of 1881. McKinley was president from 1893 to September 1901, when he was assassinated in Buffalo, New York. Warren Harding was president from 1921 to 1923, before dying in San Francisco.

US Route 6 travels 248 miles through Ohio, from Richmond to Edgerton. It travels through Cleveland, and follows the coast of Lake Erie to near Sandusky. In western Ohio, you pass through Bowling Green.

Answer: best selling author

Geneva Stratton Porter (1863-1924) was a writer of both novels and non-fiction books. Several of her novels sold over one million copies. Her non-fiction work focused on nature and the environment. She was also a highly praised nature photographer. Towards the end of her life, Porter traveled to Los Angeles and attempted to get into the film industry.

In Indiana, US 6 runs from Butler to Hammond, just outside Chicago. It passes though small towns all along the 149 miles it goes through the state.

Answer: Interstate 80

US Highway 6 follows I-80 across much of Illinois. I-70 is much farther south, and I-90 passes through Chicago and Rockford before heading into Wisconsin. Interstate 88 parallels I-80 to the north, and is known as the "Ronald Reagan Highway" because it passes Reagan's birthplace of Tampico.

Interstate 80 is an east-west highway that runs 2900 miles from New York City to San Francisco. It was started in 1956 and completed in 1986.

US 6 passes just south of Chicago and goes into Joliet. IT follows along the Illinois River for some of it's route. [Hennepin] You enter Iowa at Moline, which is where you cross the Mississippi River.

Answer: Germany

While immigrants from all four countries did wind up in Iowa, Amana was founded by Germans. They emigrated to the United States in 1842 and founded Amana in 1855. The Amish are a branch of Mennonites who reject technology and live their lives very simply.

Route 6 passes through Homestead and South Amana, which are about three miles south of the rest of the colonies.

The Amish are excellent bakers. Some of the best rye bread I ever had was from the Amana Colonies. I got it just off of Interstate 80, at the Williamsburg Exit.

US Route 6 passes through Iowa from Bettendorf to Council Bluffs. It merges with Interstate 80 for large parts of its ways across the state. It does pass through Des Moines. It breaks off from I-80 near Atlantic before heading into Council Bluffs. At that point, you are at the Missouri River.

Answer: Museum of the Fur Trade (Chadron)

Chadron is located in the northwestern part of Nebraska, nowhere remotely close to US 6, which travels through the southern part of the state.

The other three museums are right along Highway 6.

In Nebraska, US 6 travels 320 miles from Omaha to Chase. It goes to Lincoln, the state capitol, before heading along the Nebraska-Kansas border for much of its journey.

Answer: Colorado NM

Colorado National Monument is just outside Grand Junction, in the western part of Colorado. The monument has some of the most spectacular scenery in the west, with rock pinnacles and red rock canyons. It also has wildlife such as mountain goats, bighorn sheep and bald eagles.

The other three are nowhere close. Florissant is just outside Colorado Springs. Hovenweep is the southwestern part of the state along the Utah border. And Dinosaur is in the northwestern part of the state along the Utah border.

US 6 enters Colorado near Holyoak. It merges with I-76 and I-70 during much of its time in Colorado. It does pass through ski country, including Vail. Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction are the two big cities in the west.

Answer: Uinta National Forest

Uinta National Forest, in the central part of the state, can be visited on Highway 6. The area has been protected as forest land since 1897. The forest contains several mountains which are over 11,000 feet.

Wasatch-Cache is in the north part of Utah, near Logan. Dixie is in the southern part of the state, near Zion National Park. Ashley is in northeastern Utah, and has Kings Peak, the highest point in the state.

US Highway 6 travels 373 miles through Utah, much of it through pretty desolate areas. It does come close to Provo before going into the salt desert of western Utah.

Answer: Las Vegas Strip

Route 6 goes through central Nevada, and never comes closer than 100 miles to Las Vegas. The other three are within a few miles of the highway.

Boundary Peak (13,140 feet) is the highest point in the state of Nevada. US 6 passes within 10 miles of the mountain. Great Basin is a relatively recent National Park, established in 1986; Lehman Caves, which are part of the park, have been a National Monument since 1922. Ruth Copper Pit is part of the mining heritage of the region. Ruth is about 8 miles west of Ely on US Route 50.

US Highway 6 travels 305 miles through Nevada. It begins near Wheeler and Great Basin NP, then passes through Ely and Tonopah before exiting near Coaldale and Boundary Peak. The Extra-Terrestrial Highway (officially named that) passes near Area 51, and often witnesses UFOS and other strange phenomena.

Answer: Kings Canyon NP

The closest by walking is Kings Canyon, only 27 miles away. Sequoia National Park is directly south of Kings Canyon. Yosemite is around 65 miles Northeast of Bishop. Death Valley is about 110 miles southeast.

Kings Canyon is known for its spectacular scenery, which many say rivals Yosemite. It is also home to several groves of giant sequoia trees. It is home to the General Grant, one of the world's largest trees.

There are only 40 miles of US 6 in California. At one point, the highway did go all the way to Long Beach and it was the longest trans-continental highway in the United States. California changed its highway numbering system in 1964, and that led to Route 6 being terminated at Bishop. Route 395 goes much of the way to the Los Angeles area.

Answer: 3199 miles

According to the AASHTO, Route 6 is exactly 3198.87 miles long.

US Route 20 is 3365 miles long, making it the longest trans-continental highway. US Route 50 is 3011 miles, from Atlantic City NJ to Sacremanto, California. US Route 12 is 2483 miles, from Detroit to Aberdeen, Washington.