RHEA-L Archives

Archiver > RHEA > 1998-03 > 0890025986


From: PHHGENE <>
Subject: [RHEA-L] Early American Trails and Roads: Part 1
Date: Mon, 16 Mar 1998 00:26:26 EST


In a message dated 98-03-11 12:29:37 EST, you write:

<< THE FALL LINE ROAD
The Fall Line Road ran parallel to and between the King's Highway and the
Upper Road. The road broke off from the King's Highway at the town of
Fredericksburg, Virginia. By 1735, it carried traffic into the interior of
Virginia and the Carolina and across into Georgia. The road followed the fall
line, a geographical feature caused by erosion, a separation line stretching
from Maryland all the way to Georgia, running between the river tidelands and
inland elevations on the Atlantic coast--it defines an east and west division
between the upper and lower elevations. Persons traveling from Pennsylvania
to
Maryland to the inland areas of Carolina before 1750 probably followed this
road because it was an easier road to travel than the Piedmont road (called
the Upper Road). The road was of particular importance to the Carolinas
because it connected them to their neighbors. North Carolina's local laws
called for building roads only "to the nearest landing," which created a
haphazard system of major roadways which led only to water routes. The result
had been that although the major towns in North Carolina soon had roads, they
didn't lead to each other! The road saw heavy use during the Civil War and
afterwards, and was gradually improved.

THE GREAT WAGON ROAD
including THE GREAT VALLEY ROAD
Hordes of early German and Scotch-Irish settlers used what became known as
the
Great Wagon Road to move from Pennsylvania southward through the Shenandoah
Valley through Virginia and the Carolinas to Georgia, a distance of about 800
miles. Beginning first as a buffalo trail, a great Indian Road (the Great
Warrior Path) ran north and south through the Shenandoah Valley, extending
from New York to the Carolinas. The mountain ranges to the West of the Valley
are the Alleghenies, and the ones to the east constitute the Blue Ridge
chain.
The Second Treaty of Albany (1722) guaranteed use of the valley trail to the
Indians. At Salisbury, North Carolina, the Great Warrior Path was joined by
the Indian's "Great Trading Path." By the early 1740s, a road beginning in
Philadelphia (sometimes referred to as the Lancaster Pike) connected the
Pennsylvania communities of Lancaster, York, and Gettysburg. The road then
continued on to Chambersburg and Greencastle and southward to Winchester. In
1744, the Indians agreed to relinquish the Valley route. Both German and
Scotch-Irish immigrants had already been following the route into Virginia
and
on to South Carolina, and Georgia. After 1750 the Piedmont areas of North
Carolina and Georgia attracted new settlers. From Winchester to Roanoke the
Great Wagon Road and the Great Valley Road were the same road, but at
Roanoke,
the Wagon Road went through the Staunton Gap and on south to North Carolina
and beyond whereas the Valley Pike continued southwest to the Long Island of
the Holston, now Kingsport. The Boone Trail from the Shallow Ford of the
Yadkin joined the road at the Long Island of the Holston.

THE KING'S HIGHWAY
>From Boston to Charleston on the King's Highway was about 1300 miles. It was
possible to travel this road by wagon, averaging about 20-25 miles per day. A
traveler making the entire journey would have taken at least two months.
Conestoga freight wagons, drawn by four to six strudy horses, were especially
designed for mud with iron-rimmed wheels nearly a foot wide. The road's
origins are traced to the old Delaware Indian trail (across Jersey) which
Peter Stuyvesant used to force out the Swedes in 1651. Then in 1673, in
response to King Charles' wish that communication be established between his
colonies, the first crude riding trail was created for mail service between
Boston and New York. Named the "Boston Post Road," it eventually expanded
into
"the King's Highway." By 1750, a continuous road existed for stagecoach or
wagon traffic from Boston to Charleston, linking all thirteen colonies, but
the road was a difficult one to travel. During the Revolutionary War, the
King's Highway as a link between the colonies helped them to coordinate their
war efforts. However, the name was looked upon with such disfavor by American
patriots that many began once again to use the name "Boston Post Road."

----------------See Part 2----------------------------

This thread: