Great Wagon Road facts for kids

In 1734, a segment of the original Great Wagon Road, the King's Road, now PA-230 (Old Harrisburg Pike), was built from the center of Lancaster through Mount Joy to Pine Ford (now a bridge) across Swatara Creek at Middletown, and past the Harris ferry (established 1712, now Harrisburg). Also, in 1736 there was built a well-used wagon road (now US-222 and US-422) from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to Harris ferry.

Eventually from Harrisburg the King's Road continued to Carlisle, Shippensburg, and Chambersburg, then on to the Potomac River. In 1758 the Forbes military wagon road was built, branching west from Chambersburg to Fort Loudon, Pennsylvania, and on to Pittsburgh. Heavy wagon traffic carried supplies from Philadelphia through Lancaster and Harrisburg to the General Forbes army, which was based in Carlisle. (The 1751 Fry-Jefferson map is inaccurate for western Pennsylvania, showing only the approximate placement of segments of roads. For example, it shows the road from Shippensburg running too far west and ending at present-day Fort Frederick, Pennsylvania.)

Much later, in 1806, a group of Conestoga wagon craftsmen moved from Lancaster to the Harrisburg area where they set up business; the settlement was named Mechanicsburg in 1820 because of all their shops there.

However, the Monocacy Road continued as described below.

From York, however, the Great Wagon Road continued west (US-30) as described below.

The alternate path of the Great Wagon Road, however, continued west from here (after 1747) as described below. It was shown on a 1776 version of a 1770 map by William Scull.

After 1790, another main wagon road (now Black Gap Road, PA-997) ran northwest from here through Upper Strasburg, Fannettsburg, and Burnt Cabins, then followed the present-day Pennsylvania Turnpike as far as Breezewood and followed US-30 from there to Pittsburgh. This route bypassed Chambersburg and Fort Loudon, saving considerable toll and forage expenses for Conestoga wagon teamsters traveling between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

In 1768, valley settlers petitioned for a road from here to Chambersburg; it was approved in 1772 and ordered built in 1786. Eventually, in 1811 it became part of the Gettysburg to Chambersburg Turnpike (now US-30), a principal route to Pittsburgh.

Chambersburg, Pennsylvania (estab. 1730), 11 miles (18 km) west of here, became a fork of the Great Wagon Road after 1786. This is the junction with the Harrisburg-Carlisle-Shippensburg-Chambersburg (US-11) branch of the Great Wagon Road that had been built to the Potomac River in 1744.

The French and Indian War (Seven Years' War) disrupted traffic on the Great Wagon Road from 1756 to 1763. The population of Franklin County (the Chambersburg area) in 1756 was 3,000; by 1760 it was down to 300. The Forbes military wagon road (now US-30), built in 1758 to attack the French, branched west from Chambersburg through Fort Loudon and McConnellsburg to present-day Pittsburgh. Improved in 1785, it then carried heavy pioneer traffic to Ohio until the National Road (US-40) was completed to the Ohio River in 1818 and the Erie Canal was completed to the Great Lakes in 1834.

The earlier Great Wagon Road to the south from here, however, continued as described below.

A 1770 map by William Scull showed the road bypassing Chambersburg and running directly from here to intersect with the Harrisburg road (built 1744) in the vicinity of Marion, Pennsylvania (north of Back Creek and Muddy Run). A 1775 version of the map by Robert Sayer and J. Bennett showed John Mushet's tavern at this Marion intersection. Jeremiah Dixon (of Mason-Dixon fame) suggested this be a wagon road in 1767. This route would correspond roughly to present-day Bikle Road to Duffield and onward, south of Falling Spring, to the vicinity of present-day New Franklin and Marion. (The original path of the road has been broken by the construction of a railroad and interstate highway.)

John Mushet's property (deeded August 10, 1743) was adjacent to Adam Hoops's property (deeded September 30, 1751), but the 1751 tax rolls had Mushet in Guilford Township and Hoops in Antrim Township; this indicates that the junction was almost at the township boundary line. The map also implies that the Hoops inn was on the west side of the road, approximately at present-day address 6451 S. Main St (US-11). Fifteen Moravian settlers, traveling with a large wagon, noted that they passed by the tavern and stopped briefly at the "German" inn on October 16, 1753; they were on their way from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to Wachovia (now Winston-Salem), North Carolina.

Before November 1753, however, the Great Wagon Road turned westward here (VA-796) as described below.

The road to North Carolina continued south here, however, following US-220 as described below.

The road to North Carolina turned south here, following VA-605 as described below.

Also, there is another fork; VA-654 continues over the hill in a shortcut to join US-460, a branch of the old "Warwick Road" to Lynchburg and Richmond, Virginia.

Franklin Rd (US-220 Bus) continues onward, becoming Electric Rd (VA-419), which forks south after 1 mile to Starkey Rd (VA-604) leading to Merriman Rd (VA-613). VA-613 leaves the Great Valley, crossing into Franklin County through Maggoty Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains; this route provided wagon access to North and South Carolina and Georgia.

The road here was called Bryant's Road on the 1771 Wachovia map of "East Part of Surrey County". The original Moravian settlers of Wachovia may have camped here November 13, 14, and 15, in 1753, waiting for the floodwater to recede. The land on the west side of the Dan River has been altered significantly for agriculture, but from the 1766 Moravian map by C. B. Reuter it appears that wagons rolled through in the vicinity of NC-1718 (Saura Farm Road) and made their way up the hill (now Oldtown Road) to the Townfork settlement (now Walnut Cove and Germanton).

In 1759, the Moravians cut another new road, now NC-1681 (Bethabara Rd), to Bethania from Bethabara. As shown on a 1766 map of Bethania Town Lots by Christian Gottlieb Reuter, it passed just north of the future cemetery in Bethania and is now named Loeschs Lane at its end.

There are two alternative detours from this fork. The Shallow Ford road actually continued west from here in the vicinity of Winona St, Velinda Drive, Flyntdale Avenue and Yadkinville Road; its detour ends on Yadkinville Road at the Muddy Creek bridge. The Trading Ford road actually branched south in the vicinity of Speas Road and Midkiff Road, from where it joined present-day Reynolda Road; its detour ends at the junction of Reynolda Road and Midkiff Road.

The 1776 Mouzon map has no mention of Shallow Ford, but instead shows a road continuing almost due south from Lewisville possibly to a ferry location on the Yadkin River.

The Great Wagon Road continued south and west as described below.

Edward Hughes was probably the first settler at this location. He owned the land on both sides of the road approaching the ford from the east and was already operating a tavern here in 1753, which also served travelers for many years thereafter. (Hughes lived here for over 50 years).

Shallow Ford itself is a gravel bar below a natural stone ledge, smooth, wide and flat, and capable of supporting large heavy wagons and automobiles. It is normally under about 18 inches (460 mm) of water, but subject to sudden flooding that may last for days. The Shallow Ford was in regular use until a bridge was built in 1920 about a mile north of the ford. The eastern approach to the ford is now a vineyard. The wagon road on the west side was probably in the vicinity of present-day Canterbury Lane and Cornwallis Drive.

The road south of Shallow Ford was ordered in 1763 to be improved from a pack horse trail to a wagon road, which was completed around 1764 to Salisbury, North Carolina. In 1770, another road was ordered cut west to "Mulberry Fields" (now Wilkesboro), which was extended later to Kentucky as the "Daniel Boone Trail" and which turned Shallow Ford into a major north-south and east-west crossroad.

This route bypassed Charlotte and the Catawba Indian land, and also eliminated the need to cross the Catawba River to reach Camden.

At the end of Zion Church Road, the route apparently followed NC-1132 (Flowes Store Road) across the Rocky River ford, then south in Mecklenburg County and Union County via Ferguson Road, Indian Trail Road, and Mill Grove Road, through a golf course and Goose Creek Airport, then on Rocky River Road (NC-1514 + NC-1007) and Lancaster Highway (NC-200) to the South Carolina state line (Lancaster County), then SC-200 (Monroe Highway) to Lancaster, South Carolina, where it joined another branch of the Great Wagon Road to Camden, South Carolina.

Total distance from Charlotte to Augusta via this route is approximately 250 miles (400 km).

However, the road to Augusta ran southward as described below.