Thought this post and reply from the TNGreene County list might be of interest to you "trailers". Marian D. ------------------- >"G. Lee Hearl" wrote: > >> Question: did they move down into the "Greenbriar Colony" area (Montgomery/Botetourt/Wythe Counties) before arriving into Greene County [TN]? >> << >> Comment: Remember, they had to go down to TN to get to Cumberland Gap to go into KY If you ever saw the Blue Ridge Mts, you would see that there is very few places that a horse or wagon could cross. That is >> why the discovery of the Cumberland Pass was so important.<< >> Opinion: Geographically, it is doubtful that a family would have moved from the Shenandoah Valley to the Greenbriar Settlement in present-day West Virginia before moving on to Greene County, Tennessee.. >> There are many rugged mountains between W.Va. and the Valley of Virginia which lays adjacent to the Blue Ridge Mountain.. Between the Shenandoah Valley and the Holston Valley, where Greene County, Tn. is located, there are only a couple of mountains to cross and they aren't very rugged..One is at Christiansburg, Va...the other at Pulaski, Va.. Interstate 81 crosses both with ease..I am of the opinion that if a family started to Greene Co. and were looking to stop for a while, they would have gone to the New River Settlement, near the lead mines in present Wythe Co. area..There are no mountains between there and Tenn.. >> Geograhically, the Blue Ridge Mountain is not a part of the Cumberland and Clinch Mountain range where the Cumberland Gap enters Kentucky.. Those people who migrated from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia to Ky. did not have to cross over the Blue Ridge, however those who moved from southeastern, Va. and N.C. did have to cross the Blue ridge Mountain... >> There is a map on the net showing the Great Wagon Road from Pa.. to N.C. and it doesn't show the Blue Ridge Mountain, giving the impression that it was easy to move from the Shenandoah Valley to N.C., very misleading... I write this opinion based on my travels throughout the area.... >> G. Lee Hearl..Abingdon, Va.... >> >> reply from Joyce T. >I appreciate your argument, but what you say about it being doubtful that any of the pioneers would go to Greenbrier Co. before they went into TN or KY is not completely true.. Maybe my ancestors were strange, but that is exactly what they did. They went fro PA (Gettysburg) down to Bedford Co and later moved to >Greenbrier and then some went to Greene Co., TN and others went to KY. > >I think we may be forgetting that in the 1700's Greenbrier was partially on the East side of the mountains since it was made from several VA counties. > >Joyce T. >