Thanks, Harriet! You are so right about I-81. Last summer we drove most of the Virginia part of the Road along U.S. 11, and it was lovely country with picturesque little towns. There was also a park http://www.explorepark.org/heritage/great_philadelphia_wagon_road.html with an historical marker for the Road. I have a copy of Parke Rouse's 1995 book The Great Wagon Road, but haven't studied as much as I'd like to. There's a lot to learn and I appreciate your good summary of the various roads/names. We've also (I live in Baltimore) driven some of the Maryland section and tried to imagine doing it by wagon through the mud. Ouch! It certainly sounds as if there's some interest in doing something related to this at the Homecoming. Thanks, everyone. --Nancy -------------- Original message -------------- From: "Harriet Imrey" <[email protected]> > The route by this name depends on which state one is in. The original Great > Wagon Road was/is the Great Valley Road through the Shenandoah Valley down > to Roanoke VA. It did not extend into the Carolinas. From 1775, Daniel > Boone marked the trail of the Wilderness Road west from southwestern VA into > TN and KY. Another east-west trail had been marked from Roanoke east into > Halifax Co VA, which connected to other north-south wagon roads. > > The three other wagon roads diverged at Fredericksburg VA. The coastal > road, the King's Highway, had a big problem with swamps. The next one west, > the Fall Line Road, is the same route as U.S. 1. That one goes all the way > from PA through Raleigh NC, Camden SC, Columbia SC to Augusta GA. So it > acquired the name of "Great Wagon Road" in SC. The next one west was the > Upper Road, which follows I-85 from the VA/NC border to Charlotte NC, with > 1760's connections south to Spartanburg and Greenville SC (both of which > were technically within NC until 1772). In NC, this one is generally called > the Great Wagon Road...because it went there, as the road through the > Shenandoah did not. > > The original Great Wagon Road/Great Valley Road is almost the same as I-81 > through VA. The scenery is lovely, but impaired by wall-to-wall semis, > exhaust fumes, and extremely congested traffic. The closer approximation to >ly the Great Wagon Road is U.S. 11, a smaller low-traffic road that parallels > I-81 almost all the way down. The remaining colonial homes and inns are on > U.S. 11. Because of the differences in traffic congestion, a driver can > generally make the same time on U.S. 11 as on I-81. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "jane gilbert" > To: > Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 11:21 AM > Subject: Re: [SC-BUSHRIVERQUAKERS] The Great Wagon Road > > > I just looked at map of the Great Wagon Road up in my parts, and it looks > like I'll be following much of the path my Gilberts/Edmundsons took from PA > to SC. Present-day Interstate 81 seems to follow the exact route the GWR > took from Maryland to Roanoke, VA. > > Will somebody give me 50 acres when I get there? : ) > > http://philnorf.tripod.com/mapofthe.htm > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message