Old Cherokee Path

United States    Migration    Trails and Roads    Old Cherokee Path

The Old Cherokee Path connected the Lower Cherokee Indian villages, in particular Tugaloo just southwest of the Savannah River in what is now Georgia (but also villages in South Carolina), with several Indian trails, especially the Great Indian Warpath or Great Valley Road as it was called in Virginia. Tugaloo, Georgia was at a nexus of several other Indian trails. The Great Valley Road was one of the most significant settler migration routes in America. The Old Cherokee Path was not fully opened to European settlers until the Cherokee were forced out of South Carolina and part of Georgia in 1777 during the American Revolutionary War after the Cherokee sided with the British in that war. The Old Cherokee Path began in Stephens County, Georgia and ended in Washington County, Virginia. The length of the trail was about 150 miles (241 km).

Historical Background

Scots-Irish (that is Ulster-Irish), French Huguenots, and German farmers began settling the area near what would become Fort Charlotte in the 1750s. Some of these early colonists near Long Cane Creek were killed by Cherokee Indians in 1760. As a result, the British military constructed Fort Charlotte between 1765 and 1767 to help protect local colonists from hostile Indians. The fort was then turned over to South Carolina. The Old Cherokee Path probably followed older Indian trails. Fort Charlotte was built at or became the nexus of several trails along the Savannah River in South Carolina and Georgia.

The north end of the Old Cherokee Path was in Oconee County, South Carolina at the convergence of several Indian trails and settler roads mostly leading to the lower Cherokee Indian village of Tugaloo across the Savannah River in Stephens County, Georgia. Tugaloo was built at or became the nexus of several trails along the Savannah River in Georgia and South Carolina. The Cherokee Indians were forced to abandon Tugaloo during the American Revolution. The Old Cherokee Path seems to have begun in Tugaloo, crossed the river into South Carolina, and worked its way north up to Watauga County, North Carolina, through Johnson County, Tennessee, and Washington County, Virginia. There it connected to the Great Indian Warpath or Great Valley Road as it was called in that area.

As roads developed in America settlers were attracted to nearby communities because the roads provided access to markets. They could sell their products at distant markets, and buy products made far away. If an ancestor settled near a road, you may be able to trace back to a place of origin on a connecting highway.

Route

The first European colonists settled in counties along this trail (north to south) as follows:

• Washington County, Virginia

• Johnson County, Tennessee

• Watauga County, North Carolina
• Caldwell County, North Carolina
• Burke County, North Carolina
• McDowell County, North Carolina
• Rutherford County, North Carolina
• Polk County, North Carolina

• Greenville County, South Carolina
• Pickens County, South Carolina
• Oconee County, South Carolina 1784 by Germans, and Revolutionary War Veterans
• Stephens County, Georgia about 1777 by Revolutionary War Veterans

Connecting trails. The Old Cherokee Path linked to other trails at each end. The migration pathway connected at the north end in Washington County, Virginia was the pre-historic Great Indian Warpath (overlapped by the Great Valley Road opened to European settlers about 1744).

The migration routes connected at the south end in Oconee County, South Carolina, or in Tugaloo, Stephens, Georgia included:

• Savannah River pre-historic
• Old Cherokee Path pre-historic
• Lower Cherokee Traders' Path pre-historic
• Coosa-Tualoo Indian Warpath
• Tugaloo-Apalachie Bay Trail
• Old Cherokee Path about 1777
• Upper Road about 1783
• Unicoi Trail or Turnpike 1813

Between those two ends of the Old Cherokee Path it also crossed several other important routes:

• Jonesboro Road after 1769 crossed the Old Cherokee Path near the Burke/McDowell county border, NC. The Jonesboro Road connected New Bern, North Carolina to Jonesborough and Knoxville, Tennessee.
• Rutherford's War Trace opended in 1776 through the same place because it overlapped the Jonesboro Road there.
• Catawba Trail a pre-historic route met the Old Cherokee Path near the North Carolina/South Carolina border. The Catawba Trail connected the Lower Cherokee villages with the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky.
• Old South Carolina State Road opened in 1747 and met the Old Cherokee Path near the North Carolina/South Carolina border. The Old South Carolina State Road zig-zagged its way to Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina.

Modern parallels. The modern roads that roughly match the old Old Cherokee Path start in Mount Carmel. Go north on SC-81 to a little north of Iva where it forks left onto Good Hope Church Road. Follow that road onto SC-187/SC-24. Continue to follow SC-24 and it will eventually become the West Oak Highway. Follow it north to Westminster and the Toccoa Highway. That Highway will take you southwest to the Savannah River near where the old village of Tugaloo was at the confluence of Toccoa Creek and the Tugaloo River.

Settlers and Records

The first colonists in the two southern counties along what became the Old Cherokee Path arrived before the fort or trail existed, usually by way of the Savannah River, the Middle Creek Trading Path, or the Augusta and Cherokee Trail. The northern three counties were Cherokee Indian areas until the American Revolution when the Cherokees were expelled as a result of siding with the British.

No complete list of settlers who used the Old Cherokee Path is known to exist. Nevertheless, local and county histories along that trail may reveal pioneer settlers who arrived after 1765 and who were candidates to have traveled the Old Cherokee Path from the Fort Charlotte area.

For partial lists of early settlers who may  have used the Old Cherokee Path, see histories like:

in Washington County, VA:

in Johnson County, TN:

in Watauga County, NC:

in Caldwell County, NC:

in Burke County, NC:

in McDowell County, NC:

in Rutherford County, NC:

in Polk County, NC:

in Greenville County, SC:

in Pickens County, SC:

in Oconee County, SC:

• Frederick Van Clayton, Settlement of Pendleton District, 1777-1800 (Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, c1988) (FHL Book 975.72 W2c) WorldCat entry. The old Pendleton District embraced the present counties of Anderson, Oconee, and Pickens. Includes plats and their owners taken from the "State Record of Plat Books."

in Stephens County, GA:

• Katheryn Curtis Trogdon, History of Stephens County, Georgia (Toccoa, Ga.: Toccoa Womans Club, [c1973]). (FHL Book 975.813 H2t) WorldCat entry.

External Links

• Cherokee Lower Towns has maps of town locations, a link to a Revolutionary War battle database, sources, and list of Revolutionary War battles involving Cherokees.
• Georgia History Early Trails describes westward migration on and route of the Lower Cherokee Traders' Path and other routes through Georgia.
• Wikipedia contributors, "Tugaloo," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tugaloo (accessed 5 April 2011).