Harriet M. Berry (1877-1940) is best known as the face of the Good Roads Campaign in North Carolina. Granddaughter of John Berry, the architect and builder responsible for the old Orange County Courthouse, she was educated by her family from a young age. Berry graduated from the State Normal and Industrial School, now UNC-Greensboro, in 1897.
In 1901, Berry joined the United States Geological and Economic Survey, a federal study on natural resource conservation and potential for economic growth. With state geologist Joseph Austin Holmes as her supervisor, Berry worked as a stenographer and statistician, and in 1904 she became the secretary of the survey.
In 1902, Berry joined the North Carolina Good Roads Association. NCGRA was a chapter of a larger organization lobbying to build and improve road networks nationwide. After building momentum for two decades and speaking publicly in 89 North Carolina counties, Berry and the NCGRA found victory when the General Assembly commissioned a $65 million state highway system in 1921. The General Assembly also established a State Highway Commission, which later became the state Department of Transportation. In 1986, a section of Interstate Highway 40 was named after Berry in recognition of her influence on state transportation.