We should remember that virtually all of the travel during the 17th- and 18th-centuries was through deep forests, such as in VA/NC/SC/KY, etc., etc. Indeed, it was said that a squirrel could have travelled from the Atlantic to the Mississippi and never touched the ground. The trees were EVERYWHERE, giant, and completely blanketed and canopied over the land, as did all other vegetation, except in the IMMEDIATE area of the settlements and farms, and there were very few bridges, fords being the only alternative. Then too there were almost NO roads, as we know those, other than "post" roads, nor were there governments to maintain such even where they did exist. Bridle, buffalo, and Indian trails alone snaked off through the forests, among the farms, to the fords, and to the county seats. The land was only sparsely populated (300,000+- non-Indians on this entire land in 1700, and 3,000,000+- when the Rev. began). There were NO carriages nor roads to carry such, and only the! wealthy (there was virtually no middle class) had horses other than those usually single horses or mules used for farm work and for riding slowly to town when required. In fact, it is probable that there were but 4 or 5 vehicles of more than 2 wheels in all of NC when the Rev. began. Most men walked to everywhere in pairs during the daytime and when required to travel at night worried all the way about the wild animals - bears, cougars, "painters" and spiders and snakes - and trail robbers and thieves were not infrequent. Woman did NOT go out at night without men in their company. Perhaps most of all, all ordinary men who were not wealthy and were of dateable age had farm/home chores and duties daily - every morning and night - and except on rare occasions they went nowhere that took more than an hour or two of travel one way, not even to spark and court a fair damsel or to go to church. The writings are many that speak of the difficulty of travelling more than 3 miles! one way for any away-from-home venture by the ordinary citizen. So, while pretty (and not-so-pretty, as well) young women (and older ones, as well) dominated the thoughts of virtually all men then (just as now), those would be beaus travelled but very little, except to attend the neighborhood church, go to a neighboring farm, or to attend the few fairs and court days. I would be interested in the views of you folks knowledgeable about horses concerning the nature and difficulties of travel under those conditions; it was not like now, except on the Great Plains and in the SW. Thanks. Paul