I wanted to forward this wonderfully informative, historical thesis to all of you. I knew that most of you would really enjoy it and would be able to relate it to your own ancestoral research. I want to thank her so much for taking the time to share it with us!! Diana Kinzer Heath .....Garnett Lee Hearl Abingdon, Va. on the Wilderness Road........ THE WILDERNESS ROAD THROUGH SOUTHWEST VA. I read with interest the recently posted speech about the GREAT WAGON ROAD from Pa to N.C. and southwestward and the comment about how busy it was so I decided to bring some attention to a fork in that road at Salem, Virginia, where the Wilderness Road to Kentucky and beyond started.. The first recorded use of this road I have found is in the journal of Dr. Thomas Walkers exploratory trip to Kentucky in 1749.. He was not the first to follow this trail, longhunters and Indian traders had followed this old buffalo path long before Walker.. Sinclair and Stalnaker had followed the trail to where they settled on the Holston waters in present Smyth County, Va., miles from any other settlers.. The Wilderness Road crossed the rugged mountains near Pulaski and Christiansburg and as soon as the first settlers arrived along the river, Engles ferry was established and those moving farther west could cross the river without fear of losing their belongings. >From Abingdon (Wolf Hills), the road followed the trail known as Reedy Creek road to present Kingsport, Tenn.. I can look from the hill where I live and see part of that old road today..and I can walk through the woods and find places where the banks are eight or ten feet high where the pioneer wagons wore the earth away. Daniel Boone has received much credit for blazing this trail through the wilderness but the truth is that the road from Roanoke to Kingsport was well worn before Daniel Boone ever came through Southwest Virginia.. At Kingsport the road crosses the Holston River and turns northwest toward a gap in Clinch Mountain and into Powell Valley and on to Cumberland Gap leading into Kentucky... The first settlers probably had to take their wagons apart to get them into Ky through Cumberland Gap. When Judge Henderson of N.C. traded a bunch of junk to the Cherokees for land in Ky., he hired Daniel Boone to recruit men and clear a road from Powell Valley into the lands of Ky and to build a fort for the settlers he was recruiting to move from N.C. to his settlement.. Again, Daniel Boone has been given credit for building a part of the road to Ky. but Henderson and the pioneers with him were forced to leave their wagons in Powell Valley because the road was hardly more than a bridle path through the woods.. When the government decided to build a wagon road through Cumberland Gap, it is said that Daniel Boone expected to be in charge of the work but didn't get the job..When that road was opened about 1800 it was immediately filled with wagons, livestock and barefoot children moving west. Recently a tunnel was bored through the mountain and a super highway built beneath the land those hardy pioneers trod.. . From: G. Lee Hearl <glh@naxs.com>