While we are discussing migration routes and ferries, we should not forget the waterways themselves. Some folks just made a raft and floated down the river! Mickey -----Original Message----- From: Margaret Driskill [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, June 14, 2003 2:47 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [VA-SOUTHSIDE-L] Ferries on the James River Hello dear friends, I was curious about Georgia's question about ferry boats and I opened a delightful book my sister once gave me titled: THE JAMES, WHERE A NATION BEGAN, by Parke Rouse, Jr. Chapter nine is "The Green path" to Carolina. You might find this helpful. "Most former Indian trails in eastern America are unmarked, but many are becoming better known. Virginia was criss-crossed in prehistoric times by forest paths used by aborigines in their migrations, trading and wars. many major highways today follow those primeval redmen's trails. Many important early trails developed around the James. One of the most used Virginia-North Carolina trails on early maps was called "Green's Path". It was named for the Reverend roger Green of Nansemond County, who successfully petitioned the Virginia Assembly in 1653 for nearly 11,000 acres of land below the Roanoke river for the first 100 settlers who would claim them. The route Green's settlers followed south became "Green's Path." >From 1653 onward, more Virginians dared to go to Carolina and brave the Indians of the region. The route they used is much the same as U.S. Route 95. It goes south from Petersburg to Emporia, Roanoke Rapids, Rocky Mount, Wilson, Smithfield in North Carolina, and Fayetteville. Early English maps identify Green's Path as a trading path once used by Indians roaming from Virginia to the Cherokee forests of western North Carolina. Apparently Roger Green's settlers followed an old Indian trail. In North Carolina's Indian Wars of 1711, one Colonel Barnwell of South Carolina is described as leading south Carolina men up Green's Path to help North Carolina settlers fight the Tuscarora tribe." "...one result of the use of Green's Path by Virginians is the survival in the Carolina country many early Virginia family names. Because colonial North Carolina had no deep water port to dock English ships, most early NC settlement was by families who had come to Jamestown, Yorktown, Hampton, Norfolk, and other Virginia ports and gone south on foot or by boat." anyone from Virginia who travels today through this Carolina region will note many Southside names: Bunkley, Brinkley, Crumpler, Pittman, Chapman, Battle, Darden, Morrisette, Norfleet, Underwood, Pretlow, Gwaltney, Cofer, Crocker, Durham, Duke, Bridger, Holland, and others. Many Carolinians in this area trace their families to Virginia." Margaret ==== VA-SOUTHSIDE Mailing List ==== USGenWeb Archives http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb Do Not Flame other Members on List. If you have problems or concerns with list posts, contact the List Administrator. [email protected] ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237