Cobblestone
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Cobblestones are stones used in the pavement of early streets. Smooth stones were usually taken from riverbeds and cobbled (roughly assembled) together with mortar. While this removed the mud and dust from dirt roads, it was also quite loud with carriage wheels and horse hooves.
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Santarem_carfree.JPG
Santarem_carfree.JPG
Typical Portuguese patterned cobblestone paving in Santarém, Portugal.
Cobblestoned streets gradually gave way to macadam roads, and later to tarmac surfaces in the 19th century with the last holdouts finally being covered by asphalt at the beginning of the 20th century. However, cobblestones are often retained in historic areas, even for streets with vehicular traffic.