The 1st roads were traces following buffalo trails,and Indian paths. Salt lick to salt lick,to big spring. In some places,wagons could not follow these traces. Zane's Trace was soon relocated thru Bainbridge to miss crossing a Sunfish mt. A more gradual road for wagons was needed up Maysville hill,. Williamsburg and Bethel were located on the Bullskin Trace [RT 133,in places] .It had to be relocated to present RT 133 from Bethel-Concord Rd. West Union was nearly on Zane's Trace. There was no Georgetown til 1819,so the road between 1798 Bethel,and 1802 West Union passed well north of Georgetown. White Oak Valley likely. County seats got the early roads,as did the early grist mills and churches. 'OLD STATE RD + rt 774 was a road between Williamsburg,and the mills at WHITE OAK-there was no MT ORAB or Sardenia. An early 'state " ' nw territory" road ran between Cincinnati,and williamsburg,and NEW MARKET,and Chilicothe. Soon,it was replaced -1805 era, by ANDERSON STATE ROAD. In Clermont,it crossed from RT 32 TO RT 50 about TEALTOWN Rd,and joined RT 50 NEAR RT 222. It followed,roughly,RT 50 TO FAYETTEVILLE, then ran about 2-3 miles norh of RT 50 ACROSS HIGHLAND CO. It followed RT 50 again in ROSS cO. Old Anderson State Rd thru Highland runs thru a deep groove,where the mud was tracted out several feet deep. You can see the old roads running to grist mills on the 1870 atlas. Many of the connecting roads did not survivie to the automobile era for lack of needed bridges. Grist mills were located where the creeks provided water power,not necessarrily where the creeks hills were gradual. Many modern roads still follow the roads to mills. Many. The 1st churches soon found themselves at cross-roads,as road were built to get to church. Getting across the Little Miami River seems a problem for stagecoaches running fron West Union,and Bethel,to Cincinnati. At least at times, they forded the river someplace well north of Milfod,and went via Montgomery village and Montgonery Road. [Drove twice the miles..] Grist mills were the 'towns" often. Stills were there. Tanneries and blacksmith's. A small store. But,they were dependant on water power, which lessened,as the swamps up-creek were drained and farmed. Many were not on sites that allowd more than a cluster of houses. MILFORD,PERINTOWN,BATAVIA,WILLIAMSBURG are towns that survivied the loss of water-power. Steam became the mill's power in the 1830-40 era. Bethel,Amelia,New Richmond,Felicity,PT ISABEL,c had steam mills, but not the earlier water mills. For those of you not local, there are many places where the Ohio River hills,or the hills along major creeks are too steep to be passable by wagon. But,most often,a more gradual hill can be found within a couple miles. ___________________________________________________________________ Get the Internet just the way you want it. Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month! Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj.