author
Burton Willis Potter
1843–1927
A 19th-century lawyer and public servant who turned practical local knowledge into a useful book, he wrote about roads not as scenery but as the legal and civic framework that held everyday life together.
1 Audiobook
The Road and the Roadside
by Burton Willis Potter
About the author
Burton Willis Potter was an American lawyer, writer, and public official born in 1843. Records tied to his published work and later memorial listings place him in Massachusetts life, and he also served in the Massachusetts legislature.
He is best known for The Road and the Roadside, a late-19th-century book on road law, maintenance, and public ways. In the book's prefatory material, Potter explains that some of its chapters began as a lecture for the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture in 1885, which helps explain the book's clear, practical tone and its strong grounding in Massachusetts law.
That mix of legal detail and everyday usefulness gives his writing its character. Rather than writing as a literary stylist, Potter wrote as someone interested in how roads shaped farming, travel, and public responsibility, making his work a revealing snapshot of civic life in his era.