Indian Trails Along the Smith, Mayo and Dan Rivers The Saura Tribe was using a number of Indian trails during the historic period. Some of these probably had been traveled on for thousands of years. The Tutelo-Saura Path was a section of a longer trail running from modern Pennsylvania to Georgia. Coming from the Tutelo town in the Roanoke Valley, it passed through the Saura town at Philpott, crossed the Smith (Irvine) River at the Great Indian Fields, passed through the Saura town on the Mayo River, entered North Carolina, led to the large Upper Sauratown village, and crossed the Dan River. An important artery in the native trade network, this trail was later used by the Iroquois and other northern Indians after the 1670's to raid and make war on the Indians of Virginia and the Carolinas. The English renamed the road the Warrior's Path or the Iroquois War Trail. Indian hunting and war parties were still using this important footpath in 1728 when William Byrd II passed through the area surveying the colonial boundary line. Thousands of European settlers in the 1700's would also make use of this trail and change its name to Morgan Bryan's Road and the Carolina Road. Another important indian path in the area was the Saura-Sapony Trail or Old Indian Trace. This road ran from the Lower Sauratown on the Dan River to the Sapony towns on the Staunton (Roanoke) River and was later used by the European pioneers moving down from Pennsylvania and eastern Virginia. To the south in North Carolina was the Saura Fork or Oconee Path that led west from the Occoneechee Path to the Upper Sauratown, the Yadkin River, and the Blue Ridge Mountains. This information was compiled by Doug Belcher who is a Native American Historian for the Patrick County Genealogy Society and is very knowledgeable of the Native Americans of Patrick County. This is from the Regional Indian History our organization distributes at our meetings and public forums we attend. I hope many of you will find this information useful and learn from it. To learn more, check out Patrick County Heritage Book Voume II. Alpha Hiatt, Vice President Patrick County Genealogy Society __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site! http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources/

Dear Alpha, Would you ask Doug Belcher a question for me? It concerns (likely) Rockingham Co., but he may know the answer. How frequent/likely were Indian kidnappings of white setters in 1775? I have a family oral tradition I'm trying to research. Thanks for any help you can give me. Irene -----Original Message----- From: Alpha Hiatt [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2005 2:37 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [VAPATRIC] Great Wagon Road - Patrick's Indian Heritage Indian Trails Along the Smith, Mayo and Dan Rivers The Saura Tribe was using a number of Indian trails during the historic period. Some of these probably had been traveled on for thousands of years. The Tutelo-Saura Path was a section of a longer trail running from modern Pennsylvania to Georgia. Coming from the Tutelo town in the Roanoke Valley, it passed through the Saura town at Philpott, crossed the Smith (Irvine) River at the Great Indian Fields, passed through the Saura town on the Mayo River, entered North Carolina, led to the large Upper Sauratown village, and crossed the Dan River. An important artery in the native trade network, this trail was later used by the Iroquois and other northern Indians after the 1670's to raid and make war on the Indians of Virginia and the Carolinas. The English renamed the road the Warrior's Path or the Iroquois War Trail. Indian hunting and war parties were still using this important footpath in 1728 when William Byrd II passed through the area surveying the colonial boundary line. Thousands of European settlers in the 1700's would also make use of this trail and change its name to Morgan Bryan's Road and the Carolina Road. Another important indian path in the area was the Saura-Sapony Trail or Old Indian Trace. This road ran from the Lower Sauratown on the Dan River to the Sapony towns on the Staunton (Roanoke) River and was later used by the European pioneers moving down from Pennsylvania and eastern Virginia. To the south in North Carolina was the Saura Fork or Oconee Path that led west from the Occoneechee Path to the Upper Sauratown, the Yadkin River, and the Blue Ridge Mountains. This information was compiled by Doug Belcher who is a Native American Historian for the Patrick County Genealogy Society and is very knowledgeable of the Native Americans of Patrick County. This is from the Regional Indian History our organization distributes at our meetings and public forums we attend. I hope many of you will find this information useful and learn from it. To learn more, check out Patrick County Heritage Book Voume II. Alpha Hiatt, Vice President Patrick County Genealogy Society __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site! http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources/ ==== VAPATRIC Mailing List ==== Patrick Co., Va. Genealogy (VaGenWeb) http://www.rootsweb.com/~vapatric/