Wilderness Road: Virginia's Heritage Migration Route

Cumberland Gap. The fog of a summer's morning pours back through this narrow pass. The spirits of settlers are returning to their roots. Their journey through the wilderness is almost unimaginable to us. Their homelands are war-torn and poor, but they are determined to find peace and prosperity in their own land. Their road starts at the ports of Philadelphia, and stretches west and south along the curve of the Great Valley west of the Blue Ridge. Beginning in the 1730s, they trickle and then pour into this new territory. By 1810, about 300,000 have filed through this narrow gap. Most of them are Scots-Irish and German. They travel in winter, when there is less chance of contact with Native American hunters, for contact is fierce and bloody. In spring and summer, they stop to raise a crop, to have a baby, to bury a loved one. Each stop is a decision point. Do they stay here, move on in search of better land, or retrace their steps to what is known? Settlers gather at block houses or forts for protection against attack, and travel in groups for safety. Towns spring up along the roads, usually about 20 miles, a day's travel apart. Craftsmen follow to serve the needs of the new settlements, and goods and foodstuff flow back up the roads to markets back east. To British colonial governors, new settlements are a buffer, but they are a threat to French and Indian territory further west. Treaties and proclamation lines attempt to set limits, but the settlers pay little heed. The Fincastle Resolutions and the Declaration of Independence give voice to their frustration with the British crown in failing to protect them from Native American attacks. The momentous victory of Kings Mountain is a resounding answer by colonial militia to threats by British forces of increased violence along the frontier, and, many say, a turning point in the American Revolution. After the war is won, even more settlers flood down the roads toward opportunity in Kentucky and beyond. Retrace their steps along the migration routes of Virginia's wilderness road. The Great Road, also called the Valley Pike or the Great Wagon Road. The Carolina Road, south to North Carolina and beyond. The frontier trails that extended the Great Road west and south to Abingdon and Bristol. The Fincastle Turnpike, from Newcastle down the rich valleys of the New and Clinch Rivers. The Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail, from the Holston River to Cumberland Gap. Along these roads, find homes, churches, and towns built by pioneers. Explore their history in museums, historical society research centers, courthouses, and cemeteries. Follow their steps and learn their stories along Virginia's verdant back roads, blue mountains, and fruitful valleys. Take a trip back in time, find your family's roots, and gain a new understanding of our nation's beginnings.