The message about Boone going from KY to Mo got me to thinking. Thought I would share some of my research with you, many of you will already know all this. Strange how things work, I have just been working this morning on the TN end of that trail into KY. You could probably find it on KY Genweb, or something on Ft Boonesborough, but I was just looking at Sullivan Co Tennessee Genweb page - map is there. Go to TN Genweb, then Sullivan Co, then click on Map section, then State of Franklin - Cumberland Settlements and State of Franklin 1779-1796. It will be the Wilderness section, maybe someone knows of better map. my ancestor lived along the trail, as did 2 of his siblings, while 2 more used it to get to KY.....so here is what I have found. Daniel Boone and a group - Transylvania Company - wanted to get settlers into what would become KY, so they blazed a road - the Wilderness Road. This went from the Cumberland Gap into KY, was roughly done by 1775. Begin at Cumberland Gap, it went north west and branched. One branch to Boonesborough which was just south of present day Lexington. The other branch went to Harrodsburg, just follow the KY River. There are several names for the trails, but begin in VA in Shenandoah Valley and the Great Valley Road that went from Harper's Ferry to Big Lick Va (Roanoke). This connected to the roads on the VA coast, and eastern coast all the way up to Boston. Other roads to PA. Anyway, it was like the major highway of the time for migration. Most of the early KY settlers used at least part of this Valley Road. Even some of the NC people found it easier to go north into Valley and go from there cause of the mountains. But some from NC did come in - maybe from Salem NC to Jonesboro TN, but not sure what that was called. Look at your rivers. The place they were headed was around present day Bristol, Sullivan Co TN. That area - I call it the Golden Triangle - Bristol, Johnson's City, and Kingsport TN - that was the frontier before the Rev War. My ancestors were there in 1774, it had various names, and was thought at times to be in VA, then claimed by NC. It was just kind of out there at the ends of the earth. Now to get from Bristol VA/TN (it is in both states) to Cumberland Gap, you have to go around the Cinch Mountains. So the trail was not a straight line. I would say on present day map go out of Kingsport TN on highway 11 southwest (follow Holston River), then back northwest to Cumberland Gap on 32. I think that was about the route, I know early settlers were going for the Holston and Cinch Rivers and their creeks. Carters Valley was around there, etc. Knoxville I think was White's Fort, Bristol was Shelby's Station or Fort, etc. Once thru the Gap, take 25E to Corbin, then I75 to Lexington. Dont forget there was a "fork in the road" and one road went to Harrodsburg. Now in 1787-1789 remember that the war was over, Indian raids had settled down.....people were selling land in Shenandaoh Valley and taking off for KY. Many of their relatives in 1770s had already settled along that trail from Bristol to Cumberland Gap. So they would have passed right by where their old friends and relatives were living. I know ca 1787 Turney, Summers, and Matheny from Shenandoah Co, Va and the Turner/Murphy from Hampshire Co all were headed for KY....as were a lot of their neighbors. 1784 that southern part of what would be KY was Lincoln County, by 1785 Madison and Bourbon had been taken out of it. So those are where you want to look for records, before that....Fincastle I think? Another little tip, watch for your family to settle along the first trails of KY. The first road thru KY (1790s?) was the Zanesville - Nashville Pike (present day US68). Start at the Ohio River, it crossed the river at Limestone (present day Maysville KY) went down thru Paris, Lexington, Harrodsburg, Cambellsville, Bowling Green, Russellville to Nashville Tennessee. this was a very important route - it connected people going to Ohio valley from the east like PA, NJ, etc. with people coming out of VA and NC also headed for KY and the Ohio river. One of my ancestor's siblings who moved to KY in 1787 eventually ended up at Paris KY, his two brothers down near Nashville. Families were spread along this route. There was a lot of travel back and forth, at least for the men. Also remember that after Rev War - Davidson Co NC which would later be Nashville, TN was where soldiers were being given land. so men from all over - MD, PA, etc - were pouring into that Nashville area, usually by going thru the Shenandoah Valley of VA. Nashville and Knoxville were booming places. Nashvill had all the major trails coming in - Natchez Trace, etc. So you could go from LA to Paris KY and on to Ohio River by going thru Nashville TN. The route between Nashville and Knoxville was Avery Trace and my ancestor and his brother settled along that around 1809. So they could could visit their relatives in KY - I have land records where 3 of them - 2 in TN and 1 in KY - all signed a land deed for land right on border of TN and KY. Another early road thru Logan County KY. Henderson (on Ohio) south through Russellville to Nashville TN. Also remember that when you hear mention "the falls of the Ohio" they mean Louisville, KY. People north and south and east - wanted to get to the Ohio River which became the main route of our ancestors to everywhere - MO, AR, LA, IN, etc. the Ohio valley was rich, and they could follow rivers off of the Ohio or go on into the Mississippi, or even later up the Missouri. I am not sure when river boats began using the Missouri, but that ended with the Civil War I think. Dont be surprized to find an ancestor born in Maryland, married in Tennessee, died in Illinois. That was very common. the only place where there was a problem with the Ohio - besides getting around the falls at Louisville, was that section around Wheeling, once past that you could travel all the way to LA by flatboat. All of your old towns - old Hannastown and Greensburg in PA where people from the east headed, Pittsburgh which was so important in the French and Indian wars with Fort Pitt, this was the way people from the east got to the Ohio. The Battle of Point Pleasant was fought for control of the Ohio. Gallipolis, Ohio was an old town, entry way into Ohio. Limestone where the trail went to TN. Cincinnati where so many of the German speaking people from PA moved, Louisville, Cairo, all the old towns that were so important to early settlement. I would think Boone traveled to one of the river towns and then used the Ohio. Mary [email protected]