Wagon Roads in Colonial Times

(I saved this article for my personal use; so it is totally copied. I do not have the source, but I will try to find it. It was especially helpful as I looked at the migration of our ancestors from early immigrants to the mid 1900's. After that there is no pattern - easy transportation and communication has opened a window to the world.)

We take transportation for granted today. We forget how difficult it was to travel in days of yore, when a trip today to the opposite coast is only a few hours of flying or a few days of driving for us. Contrast this with the weeks or even months our ancestors spent in crossing the Atlantic, or the few months spent on the Westward trail.

Some trips in the eighteenth century were not finished in the year in which they were started. A family might start out from Pennsylvania and stop in Virginia for the winter and perhaps another year to grow crops.

Where there was the easier transportation, the first development occurred.

In Virginia, the first settlements were along the rivers, the Potomac, the Rappahannock, the James, and the York Rivers. Civilization in the first century proceeded inland as far as ships could sail. In other colonies, the Delaware and the Hudson Rivers attracted civilizations along their shores.

When river access reached its limits, limited roads were built. But usually, settlement came first and then the roads came. When the First Germanna Colony settled at Germantown, they reached the site by walking, probably following trails used by the Indians. Then they built roads. The Second Germanna Colony was entrenched in the Robinson River Valley before roads reached the area. As to how difficult it was to travel in the early eighteenth century, one has only to read John Fontaine's description of the expedition, in 1716, over the Blue Ridge Mountains.

What determined where roads were built? Several factors influenced the choice. Most roads originated with a petition by the settlers to the county courts for roads. They wanted roads that reached their homes and then reached commercial outlets for the goods they were selling and buying. Many times, a mill was one terminus, or a point along the road. So usually the pattern of settlement and commercial activity was the primary influence. As to the course that a road took, it was influenced by geographical factors such as hills and waterways.

In physically laying out a road, which often involved clearing trees and leveling ground, an existing trail was often the basis. Very commonly, these had been laid out and used by the Indians, perhaps for centuries. Many of our early roads were an elaboration of the early Indian trails.

To give an example from Pennsylvania, the Hans Herr party landed at Philadelphia in 1710 and paused there only long enough to ask where there was land for sale. To the west they were told. They went as far as they could using the available roads. As civilization thinned out, the roads became poorer until they were essentially non-existent. Then they followed Indian trails until they were past the bounds of civilization. Their settlement and the like settlement of others were the impetus for building roads.

The Great Wagon Road left Philadelphia in a westerly direction and ran through the communities with large German populations in Lancaster, York, Montgomery, Berks, Lebanon and, Adams. This is the flattest part of Pennsylvania and the path of least resistance was diverted to the south by the Blue Hills which are an extension of the Appalachian Mountains. Across the necks of today's West Virginia and Maryland on an easy route, the road reached northern Virginia. The road split then into routes on the west and east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Technically, the Great Wagon Road ran on the west of the Blue Ridge Mountains into the upper Shenandoah Valley and on into hills of southwest Virginia. It was the population pressures of Pennsylvania in the early eighteenth century that started settlers of all nationalities along this road. Later in the century, the Pennsylvanians were joined by the Marylanders and Virginians.

Before the Great Wagon Road was a road, it was a heavily traveled path used by the Indians from New York to the Carolinas. There were several purposes to which the Indians put the trails. One was intertribal trading. Another was hunting. Perhaps as important, it was the means by which the Iroquois confederation of nations exerted their dominance up and down the east coast. But for whatever reason they used the forest trails, the Indians found the best routes.

To keep some perspective on the number of people, it is estimated that the Five Nations of Indians ranged from 5,000 to 15,000. The Five Nations ended their internal struggles and fighting and united against the other tribes. Their forays ranged from their home ground in upper New York to the regions later known as Georgia and Alabama to the south and Ohio in the west. Depending upon the time, one might one remain for an extended period on the Great Road and not see an Indian. Another day though might show a party of hundreds of Indians.

Initially, the routes south from New York spread over many paths. By the early 1700's, the growth of European population east of the Blue Ridge led to a desire for separation of the Indians and Europeans. Gov. Spotswood, in conferences with the Five Nations Indians, sought and obtained their agreement to remain on the west side of the Blue Ridge. This led to a period of peace along the Warriors' Path. But after 1722, the date of the conference, white men began to use the Warriors' Path and thus started the process of converting it into the Great Wagon Road.

Thom Faircloth asked a good question, "What were the roads like that we have been talking about?" At the beginning, they were trails. When traversed by humans, not much improvement was needed as a person is very adept and can overcome many obstacles by his skills. When horses were used, little additional improvement was needed, perhaps some widening. When wagons entered the flow along the road, definite improvements were needed. Trees had to be cut to widen the road, some of the roughest spots had to be smoothed out.

But after all was said and done, the surface was still dirt and the tree stumps remained. The wagons rolled over the stumps. The tools that were used were the axe, the spade and the pickax (used for loosing up soil and rocks and for prying up roots). To quote Charles Teeter in a similar situation, "The pick and the shovel were frequently brought into use to grade down the sides of deep gutters (gullies) so that they might be crossed." He additionally says that the shovel and the pickax were the two tools that have done more toward developing the West (in the nineteenth century) than all others combined. But still, as you may imagine, little work was invested into the roads because the people doing the "investing" were not going to reap any rewards after they got their party or their wagon through.

So initially the roads were minimal, with unimproved surfaces. I have some personal experience with the conditions of such roads. I was born in Oklahoma in the first part of this century on a farm which was accessed by a dirt road. Periodically, the dirt was leveled or smoothed out to fill in the holes. But holes and ruts developed with regularity, especially after the rains which loosened or softened the soil. Then attempts to use the road by car, wagon, or tractor, would create ruts that were axle deep. Progress became next to impossible. Pity the poor mailman trying to make his rounds. He often found that the best roads were through the pastures or farmland.

Back in eighteenth century Virginia, rolling roads were used to get the tobacco to market. Very large casks, I believe about 800 pounds with tobacco was typical, were used. Imagine oversized barrels made of wood. The tobacco was packed into them firmly to relieve the stress on the cask. The barrel was tipped on its side and an axle was fashioned through the barrel. Shafts were fixed to the axle and the cask was pulled by animals, probably oxen. The road had to be a good road if the barrel was to survive the trip. It needed to be smooth so that the cask would not be destroyed or punctured by rocks and tree stumps. It needed to be dry to keep the tobacco dry. The road had to be reasonably level so the animals could pull it uphill and avoid be run over by the cask on the down slopes. So the economic necessity of getting the goods to market forced the best roads to be the tobacco rolling roads.

Overall, the state of the roads was primitive. Their design prevented travel many weeks during the year. Any one road would evolve toward something better as more people worked on it. To carry heavier loads, some surfacing was desirable but it was expensive. Later, to help with these expenses, tolls were charged. Perhaps the best image to have in one's mind is the picture of the two ruts of the Oregon Trail as it crossed the prairie. That was a typical road. In Virginia, I have visited the ruins of a road where the road bed has sunk or eroded so deeply into the earth that a wagon on the road would not be visible from a short distance away. You might say the early roads were a concept, not a reality.

In 1743, two Moravians, Leonhard Schnell and Robert Hussey set out for Georgia from Pennsylvania. The journey was to take five months (but that included waiting for their baggage). They left on November 6, so the trip was definitely in the winter. From Bethlehem, they went to Philadelphia, thence to Lancaster and to York. In York, they recorded that all the inhabitants were "High Germans." They were going by foot, carrying what they needed with them. The trip was of a missionary nature. Because of the scarcity of ministers, it was not hard to obtain an audience. For example, at York, an innkeeper asked Schnell to preach a sermon which he did for an assemblage of villagers rounded up by the innkeeper.

Leaving York, the two pilgrims descended into Maryland and forded in succession three shallow rivers. At the third river, the Monacacy, Schnell had to carry his companion across because the two had walked forty miles since sunup and were very tired. Near Frederick, Maryland, they found many Lutheran and Reformed members who wanted a sermon and they were obliged by the missionaries. Between Frederick and the Potomac River they encountered only two houses in this twenty-mile stretch. They had gone without eating because no food could be obtained.

Near Winchester, in Virginia, the two stopped at the inn of Jost Hite. Jost described the road ahead as 150 miles of Scotch-Irish settlements (this would have been the route which became the Great Wagon Road), which discouraged the missionaries. Learning of an alternative way, they went east of the Blue Ridge Mountains and passed close to Warrenton, Virginia. This, we know, brought them close to Germantown, where the First Germanna Colony was living. One man here told them that a recent ship, bringing immigrants, had lost 150 of its passengers due to drowning. Schnell was requested to stay and preach in the church they had but for which they had no minister. The sermon was so well received that Schnell was requested to stay and become their minister, but he declined.

In the November rains, the two Moravians started southward again. Creeks were swollen. They crossed the Rappahannock in a canoe and stopped at an inn kept by Christopher Kuefer [who was this?]. They plodded along slowly, but were stopped near the Orange County Courthouse, where an English settler demanded to see their passports. Schnell declined and then several farmers of the region took him to a justice of the peace. Here Schnell and Hussey produced their passports and were allowed to leave. By early December they had reached southern Virginia.

In North Carolina, a German Reformed member persuaded them to give a sermon in German, saying that it had been several years since they had heard a sermon in German. Continuing the trip, the missionaries encountered snow, which at times forced them to remain indoors. Turning to the east, they reached Charles Town, South Carolina, on Christmas eve.

Along the way, the missionaries were discouraged that letters had been circulated by the Lutherans and Reformed people, which spoke of the Moravians in an evil manner. By January 21, they were still twenty miles from Savannah. In Savannah, they boarded a sloop, the John Penrose, for the return trip to Pennsylvania. They returned home to Bethlehem on April 10. Thus the trip by sea was almost as time consuming as the walk had been.

As Leonard Schnell and Robert Hussey (an English convert) walked to the south, sometimes covering up to forty miles per day, they encountered difficulties. Food was often scarce because they depended largely on residents along the road. Sometimes they encountered very few homes. Furthermore, food was not always available because the householders themselves had no bread.

At some of the larger rivers, ferries were necessary. At the Shenandoah, the ferryman was reluctant to take them across until he saw their money. At one point, Schnell used his hatchet to clear the vines from the pathway which was often overgrown. Once he felled a tree to serve as a footbridge across Goose Creek. At night they heard the howls of wolves and other wild animals.

In short, travel was primitive and often very unpleasant. Still, we have underestimated the degree of intercourse between the north and the south, most of which was provided by travelers going back and forth.

At the conference between the Governors of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York, on the one hand, and the Indians of the Five Nations on the other hand, which was held outside Albany in 1722, the Indians agreed to stay on the west side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. There was no provision which limited the Europeans to the east side of the Mountains so that, for a period of years, both groups were in the Shenandoah Valley. At another major conference held at Lancaster, PA in 1744, the right of the Europeans to use the trails on the west side of the Blue Ridge was reaffirmed. At this time, the route on the west side was known as the Great Warrior's Path. In the famous map of Peter Jefferson and Joshua Fry, printed in England in 1754, the map showed the "Indian Road by the Treaty of Lancaster.

By the time the 1775 edition of the map was issued, this Appalachian pathway was labeled "The Great Wagon Road from the Yadkin River through Virginia to Philadelphia distance 435 miles." From the Yadkin River, several other routes extend the total length. The growth of the Moravian settlement of Wachovia after 1753 increased travel from Virginia into that region. This led to the establishment of Rowan County in North Carolina 1753. The Governor of NC could write in 1755 that Salisbury, the county seat of Rowan, is but just laid out, with a courthouse and seven or eight log houses erected.

Growth and development were not instantaneous. Needs were met in a variety of ways. Some enterprising citizens established ferries. In 1744, Virginia ordered that a ferry be maintained across the Potomac (the site is now Williamsport, Maryland). The first ferries were of limited capacities, later expanded so that wagons could be carried.

Year after year, along this narrow-rutted inter-colonial thoroughfare, there was a procession of horsemen, footmen, and pioneer families with horses, wagons, and cattle. The rumble of wagon wheels in the 1750's and 1760's mounted along the Wagon Road. In the last sixteen years of the colonial area, southbound traffic along the Great Wagon Road was numbered in the tens of thousands. It was the most heavily traveled road in all America and had perhaps more traffic than all of the other main roads together.

A point to be made here is that when the first of our Germanna ancestors moved south in the eighteenth century, conditions along the road were still very primitive and the development in the western areas of the southern states was very limited. It was almost like starting over again at Germantown or at the Robinson River.

NOTE: When Alexander Spotswood went to the Indian conference at Albany, New York in 1722, he went by the ship H.M.S. Enterprise. It was easier to go by water than it was by land.

In 1768, a chain of events was launched which was to lead to a spur or new branch of the Great Wagon Road. John Finley, an itinerant peddler, had told Daniel Boone that there was a big gap in the mountain range which the Indians used. That was all Daniel Boone needed to hear. Boone, Finley, and four others hacked their way through dense underbrush to prove that a route was possible.

Colonel Richard Henderson, a North Carolina lawyer, saw the possibilities. He purchased land from the Cherokees along the Ohio River in Kentucky. To provide access, he hired Boone and thirty workers to cut a road through. His actions were not universally acclaimed but Boone completed the road in short order.

This modest beginning quickly became the Wilderness Road, leading to what became Kentucky and Tennessee. The new road branched to the southwest at (today's) Roanoke, VA, leaving the Great Wagon Road, which continued in a southerly direction. In terms of today's locations, it passed Christianburg, Wytheville, and Abingdon, in Virginia, before branching in a westerly direction to pass through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky and branching in a southwestern direction toward Knoxville.

By 1776, Henderson's company, Transylvania, petitioned the Continental Congress for admission as the fourteenth colony. Conflicting claims and rivalries doomed the request.

However, colonists from Pennsylvania to the Carolinas were undeterred by the political status of the new area. The lure of the new lands in the west added to the volume of the traffic on the Great Wagon Road. By 1790, when the first United States census was taken, 70,000 people had made new homes across the Appalachians.

The opening of Tennessee and Kentucky deflected much of the traffic on the Wagon Road for several decades, but the road continued to grow in importance. Indeed, the great years of the Deep South's settlement were yet to come. The ancient path which had led through the Carolinas to Georgia would continue to lead to green lands and golden opportunity. The Great Philadelphia Wagon Road would grow with the years." (Frank Rouse, Jr., "The Great Wagon Road," The Dietz Press, 1995.)

This history of the Wagon Road is of interest for its own story, but it was also the route by which many of Germanna people moved on to new life's away from Virginia. Germanna people were among the first in nearly all of the new areas.

Interesting? This all came about because of the group of people that are discussing the Germanna settlement in VA. on the Web.