Members: This was taken from another list sight. As there were several of us who had Wilson Co. TN ancestors, thought it would be interesting to find out how they reached Wilson County from NC. According to >TENNESSEE: IT'S GROWTH AND PROGRESS, by Robert H. White, 1947, p. 160-163: "FIRST STATE-DIRECTED ROAD IN TENNESSEE COUNTRY. If the new country,now Tennessee, were to prove inviting to settlers, then roads had to be made in >order to enable people to come into the new region. North Carolina, the mother State, gave encouragement in this matter in 1787 by ordering a road to be 'cut' from the south end of Clinch Mountain to Bean's 'lick.' PETER AVERY,a hunter in the Washington District, was selected as guide to direct the blazing of the trail through 'The Wilderness.' This 'trace' crossed Clinch River, and entered the Cumberland Mountains. It twisted up Crab Orchard Mountain, passed 'Standing Stone' (now Monterey), and followed a rambling course by way of Fort Blount to Nashville. Over this trace came a number of immigrants to the >Cumberland Settle- ments in 1788. In that company were such notable persons as >General WILLIAM DAVIDSON, Judge JOHN McNAIRY, and ANDREW JACKSON. > >"At first, this 'road; was merely a tyrail that had been marked by blazing >trees to guide the pioneers on their way to the Cumberland Settlements. For a number of years, only pack horses could follow the trail. But about 1795, it began to be called a 'waggon road.' As rough and winding as the road was, it was the chief passage to the Cumberland Country until 1797. This road is generally known as the >NORTH CAROLINA ROAD or AVERY's TRACE. > >"SECOND ROAD: the LOTTERY AND ITS FAILURE. In 1794, the territorial Legislature ordered a road to be built from South West Point (now Kingston) to the >'settle- ments' on the Cumberland River in the Mero District. These >settlements later became what is now Nashville. The cost of the cutting and clearing out of the road was to be met with funds raised by a lottery. This lottery scheme for raising funds was simply a game of chance. But, for the next thirty years, lotteries were approved by the Legislature for various purposes....There were in all three thousand and one hundred tickets. Three thousand of the tickets were to be sold at five dollars each. >The one hundred tickets were to he held by the commissioners and placed in a drawing in the name of the territory....The lottery, however, was a >failure....This was the first road in Tennessee to receive any promise of money from the State for its construction. The road began near South West Point (now Kingston), crossed the mountain at or near the present town of Crossville, and continued on to Nashville by way of the present town of >Carthage. This road became known as the WALTON ROAD, which is one of the historic roads in Tennessee." >***** >The WALTON ROAD went from Crossville and skirted the northern edge of >Cookeville (back in the 1940s and 1950s) in Putnam County on its way to >Nashville. > >There is a map of the earliest roads on p. 160 in the above book. Pat pwjones@centuryinter.net