At 08:25 PM 6/5/96 -0400, you wrote:
>In a message dated 96-06-05 19:07:51 EDT, [email protected] wrote:
>
>>The Great Road ran from Philadelphia thru Staunton, VA, to Salisbury NC,
>>Charlotte, NC; Newberry SC to Augusta GA.
>
>I hope this response fits into properly into this HARRISON list , as I am
>certain it would be relative to any HARRISON research.
>
>I find this VERY interesting. I am curious, is there some publication that
>gives the details of these early roads? I have family (as do many people)
>that moved from Virginia to NC > SC > GA in the late 1700's, and have often
>wondered about the route they took. Were these roads south and westward built
>by the indians or by the colonists? Was the term you use..."The Great Road"
>an actual term used then?
>
>Byron Hill
>P.O. Box 120603
>Nashville, TN 37212
>[email protected]
Byron,
The Great Wagon Road was first cited on a 1734 land survey as "the Wagon
Road that goes from Conestoga to Opecklin." In other words, from south
central PA to what became Frederick County, VA, in the northern tip of the
State. This was the path the early Quakers had taken to their Hopewell
settlement in 1732.
In 1755, a map was published in London that showed a broader course of the
Great Wagon Road. It started in Philadelphia and followed a westerly course
through Lancaster and York, PA. (now the Pennsylvania Turnpike) At some
point below Shippensburg, PA the road turned south which took it across the
Potomac River (along today's US 11). This section of the road was labeled
"The Great Wagon Road to Philadelphia."
The road continued "down" the Shenandoah Valley (through Harrisonburg),
following a course now equal or parallel to US Rt. 11 and I-81. After the
road cut through the Blue Ridge Mountains it went toward Martinsville, VA
and Greensboro, NC. That segment of the road was labeled "The Great Road
from the Yadkin River thru Virginia to Philadelphia--distant 455 miles."
This is the road that families such as Bryan and Boone followed from PA to
their brief stay in VA to NC in the late 1740s. Also, the VA Quakers
followed this road to escape the ravages of the French and Indian War during
the latter 1750s and early 1760s.
These maps were based on the survey work of Peter Jefferson (1708-1757), who
was the father of Thomas Jefferson, and Col. Joshua Fry (1700-1754). Copies
of these maps may be purchased from the Virginia State Library in Richmond.
They are reasonably priced--no more than $12 for a half-dozen different maps
representing different eras.
The roads were built by colonists. The Univ. of VA is working on a project
to identify the first roads. County court records documented the
construction of roads during colonial VA. It named a road superintendent
and ordered the selection of tithables. It also stated the two end points of
the road, usually from a mill to another site such as a courthouse. Or a
road between several neighbors.
As Mrs. Bass pointed out, near Roanoke the road turned right (actually went
straight and the main route turned left to cross the Blue Ridge). The road
that continued straight into Tennessee is today's Interstate 81. Originally
it was an Indian path that the Iriquois (spelling?) nation travelled from
New York to Alabama. These were very early transportation routes that the
Harrisons (especially the Rockingham County Harrisons) and other settlers used.
Wilmer L. Kerns