Fort Moore-Charleston Trail: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:Fort Moore-Charleston Trail.png|border|right|380px]]The '''Fort Moore-Charleston Trail''' connected the | [[Image:Fort Moore-Charleston Trail.png|border|right|380px]]The '''Fort Moore-Charleston Trail''' connected the colonial [[South Carolina Genealogy|South Carolina]] seaport of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston,_South_Carolina Charleston] with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_Town,_South_Carolina Fort Moore] guarding trade on the South Carolina side of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_River Savannah River] across from [[Georgia]]'s subsequent colony of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusta,_Georgia Augusta]. Charleston was the largest European settlement in South Carolina, its capital, its main trade connection to Europe, on the [[King's Highway|King's Highway]], and the start of several other trails. In 1716 Fort Moore was completed at the site of an Indian village that became the important fur trading center of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_Town,_South_Carolina Savannah Town] (New Windsor Township after 1737), the primary pelt trading center with Charleston. The Fort-Moore-Charleston trail likely opened at that time. Many other trails also converged on this town just below the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_line fall line], and later on the town of Augusta across the river in Georgia. The Fort Moore-Charleston Trail began in [[Charleston County, South Carolina]] and ended in [[Aiken County, South Carolina]]. The length of the trail was about 144 miles (232 km).<ref name="HBG">''Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed.'' (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), 849. ({{FSC|1049485|item|disp=FS Library Book 973 D27e 2002}}). [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50140092 WorldCat entry.]</ref> | ||
=== Historical Background === | === Historical Background === | ||
[[Charleston County, South Carolina|Charleston]] was founded in 1670 by English and African immigrants from the Caribbean island of [[Barbados Genealogy|Barbados]]. It became the largest city and capital of the South Carolina colony. Many trails and roads radiated out from Charleston. | |||
The Westo Indians were the first known residents of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_Town,_South_Carolina Savannah Town], South Carolina, observed there as early as the 1670s. However, they were replaced by [[Shawnee Indians|Shawnee (Savannah) Indians]] because of a 1679-1680 trade war. This town became important to the South Carolina colony because it was a prosperous center for the western fur and deer skin trade. Pack trains of animal furs and skins arrived from the Appalachian (Blue Ridge) Mountains and beyond. Savannah Town was just below the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_line fall line], the farthest upriver an ocean-going boat could reach. Iron and manufactured goods were traded for the pelts. Skins from Savannah Town were shipped by boat to Charleston and from there to Europe. In 1715-1716 South Carolina built and garrisoned [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_Town,_South_Carolina Fort Moore] on the Savannah River to protect this trade from attacks by hostile Indians, [[New Spain|Spanish]], or [[New France|French]], and presumably about this time opened the Fort Moore-Charleston Trail. In 1730 the area was incorporated as [[New Windsor Township, South Carolina|New Windsor]] Parish and Township. In 1737 about 200 [[Switzerland|Swiss]] from the Canton of Appenzell settled the area.<ref name="Aug">Wikipedia contributors, "Savannah Town, South Carolina," ''Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia'', http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Moore,_South_Carolina (accessed 12 April 2011).</ref> | |||
As | As a western pelt trading center, many Indian trails converged on this area. An old Indian trading trail called the [[Occaneechi Path]] stretched from the former Indian village at New Windsor toward Camden, South Carolina, then north to Charlotte, North Carolina, and beyond to Petersburg, Virginia. The [[Lower Creek Trading Path]] extended from Savannah Town/New Windsor into the mountains all the way to Clarksdale, Mississippi on the Mississippi River. The [[Cisca and St. Augustine Trail]] (or Nickajack Trail) connected the Cumberland River at Nashville, Tennessee to the Savannah River at New Windsor, South Carolina to St. Augustine, Florida on the Atlantic Ocean. | ||
Sometime around 1735 white settlers began using the Camden to New Windsor part of the Occaneechi Path as part of the overlapping [[Fall Line Road]]. Settlers from as far away as Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania may have started appearing in Aiken County via this route. Likewise, the [[Great Valley Road]] through Virginia to Tennessee had a south fork extension that partly overlapped the Occaneechi Path and Fall Line Road and may have brought settlers from as far away as Pennsylvania to Aiken County by about the 1740s. | |||
In 1735 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Augusta,_Georgia Augusta, Georgia] was founded five miles upriver from Fort Moore by British colonists coming up the Savannah River from Savannah, Georgia. The citizens of Augusta did what they could to deflect the fur and skin trade from Savannah/New Windsor, South Carolina to their Georgia city and their seaport at Savannah, Georgia. In 1740 a ferry service began between the two rival towns of New Windsor and Augusta. However, New Windsor declined in importance. By 1765 the town was abandoned and Fort Moore was closed.<ref name="Aug" /> | |||
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:<ref>South Carolina - The Counties, http://www.carolana.com/SC/Counties/sc_counties_alphabetical_order.html (accessed 7 April 2011).</ref> | |||
{{Block indent|*[[Charleston County, South Carolina]] 1670 by English and African Barbadians }} | |||
{{Block indent|*[[Dorchester County, South Carolina|Dorchester]] 1696 by New Englanders from Massachusetts }} | |||
{{Block indent|*[[Colleton County, South Carolina|Colleton]] 1682 by English, and French Huguenots }} | |||
{{Block indent|*[[Bamberg County, South Carolina|Bamberg]] 1750s by French Huguenots, and Scots-Irish (that is Ulster Irish) }} | |||
{{Block indent|*[[Barnwell County, South Carolina|Barnwell]] 1740s by Swiss/Palatines, and Scots-Irish }} | |||
{{Block indent|*[[Aiken County, South Carolina|Aiken]] 1715 by British military garrison, 1737 by Swiss/Palatines, and French Huguenots }} | |||
{{Block indent|*[[Richmond County, Georgia]] 1735 by British colonists from Savannah, Georgia}} | |||
: | '''Connecting trails.''' The Fort Moore-Charleston Trail linked to other trails at each end.<ref>''Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed.'' (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), 847-61. ({{FSC|1049485|item|disp=FS Library Book 973 D27e 2002}}) [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50140092 WorldCat entry.], and William E. Myer, ''Indian Trails of the Southeast''. (Nashville, Tenn.: Blue and Gray Press, 1971), 12-14, and the book's pocket map "The Trail System of the Southeastern United States in the early Colonial Period" (1923). ({{FSC|54678|item|disp=FS Library Book 970.1 M992i}}) [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1523234 WorldCat entry].</ref> | ||
: | |||
: | |||
The migration | The migration pathways connected at the ''south'' end in [[Charleston County, South Carolina]] included: | ||
{{Block indent|*the Atlantic Ocean 1670 }} | |||
{{Block indent|*[[Fort_Moore-Charleston_Trail|Fort Moore-Charleston Trail]] about 1716 }} | |||
{{Block indent|*[[Camden-Charleston Path|Camden-Charleston Path]] 1732 }} | |||
{{Block indent|*[[King's Highway]] built 1732-1735 in SC<ref>"South Carolina Counties and Parishes - 1740" in ''The Royal Colony of South Carolina'' at http://www.carolana.com/SC/Royal_Colony/sc_royal_colony_counties_parishes_1740.html (accessed 22 April 2011).</ref> }} | |||
{{Block indent|*[[Charleston-Savannah Trail]] late 1730s }} | |||
{{Block indent|*[[Secondary Coast Road]] late 1730s or early 1740s}} | |||
{{Block indent|*[[Old South Carolina State Road|Old South Carolina State Road]] 1747 }} | |||
{{Block indent|*[[Charleston-Ft. Charlotte Trail|Charleston-Ft. Charlotte Trail]] about 1765 }} | |||
'' | The migration routes connected at the ''north'' end in [[Aiken County, South Carolina]], or in Augusta, [[Richmond County, Georgia Genealogy|Richmond, Georgia]] included: | ||
{{Block indent|*Savannah River pre-historic }} | |||
{{Block indent|*[[Occaneechi Path]] pre-historic }} | |||
{{Block indent|*[[Lower Creek Trading Path]] pre-historic }} | |||
{{Block indent|*[[Cisca and St. Augustine Trail]] (or Nickajack Trail) pre-historic }} | |||
{{Block indent|*[[Fort_Moore-Charleston_Trail|Fort Moore-Charleston Trail]] about 1716 }} | |||
{{Block indent|*[[Fall Line Road]] about 1735 }} | |||
{{Block indent|*[[Augusta-Savannah Trail]] 1739 }} | |||
{{Block indent|*[[Great Valley Road|Great Valley Road (south fork)]] 1740s }} | |||
{{Block indent|*[[Augusta-St. Augustine Trail]] }} | |||
{{Block indent|*[[Augusta and Cherokee Trail]] about 1777}} | |||
'''Modern parallels.''' The modern roads that roughly match the old Fort Moore-Charleston Trail start in | '''Modern parallels.''' The modern roads that roughly match the old Fort Moore-Charleston Trail start in Charleston, South Carolina. From Charleston, take Interstate-26 northwest to Exit 187. Turn south on SC-27 toward Ridgeville. Turn west onto US-78 to the Barnwell-Aiken County border where the road forks left and becomes US-278 into Augusta, Georgia. | ||
=== Settlers and Records === | === Settlers and Records === | ||
The | The first European settlers in Aiken County either came up the Savannah River or Fort Moore-Charleston Trail starting about 1716. Around 1735 white settlers may have started arriving via the Fall Line Road. Many other trails converged here but most were Indian trails and were most likely used by fur trappers and traders rather than by settlers coming to the area. However, in later years whites settlers could have used all these trails for coming to or leaving the area. | ||
No complete list of settlers who used the '''Fort Moore-Charleston Trail''' is known to exist. Nevertheless, local and county histories along that trail may reveal pioneer settlers who arrived after 1777 and therefore who were the most likely candidates to have traveled the Fort Moore-Charleston Trail. | No complete list of settlers who used the '''Fort Moore-Charleston Trail''' is known to exist. Nevertheless, local and county histories along that trail may reveal pioneer settlers who arrived after 1777 and therefore who were the most likely candidates to have traveled the Fort Moore-Charleston Trail. | ||
For partial lists of early settlers who '''''may | For partial lists of early settlers who '''''may ''''' have used the Fort Moore-Charleston Trail, see histories like: | ||
'''''in | '''''in Colleton County, SC:''''' | ||
* | *Evelyn McDaniel Frazier Bryan, ''Colleton County, S.C.: a History of the First 160 Years, 1670-1830'' (Jacksonville, Florida: Florentine Press, 1993) ({{FSC|697866|item|disp=FS Library Book 975.795 H2b}}) [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/29658563 WorldCat entry]. | ||
'''''in | '''''in Aiken County, SC:''''' | ||
* | *Gasper Loren Toole, ''Ninety Years in Aiken County: Memoirs of Aiken County and Its People'' (Charleston?, S.C.: s.n., 1959) ({{FSC|66488|item|disp=FS Library Book 975.775 H2t; Film 1425280 Item 3}}) [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/3363918 WorldCat entry]. | ||
*Harold S. Maness, ''Forgotten Outpost: Fort Moore and Savannah Town, 1685-1765'' (Beech Island, South Carolina : Beech Island Historical Society, c1986) ({{FSC|964651|item|disp=FS Library Book 975.775 H2mh}}) [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/13527831 WorldCat entry]. | |||
=== External Links === | === External Links === | ||
* | *"Beach Island, SC: a History Since 1685," https://www.beechislandhistory.org/history-of-beech-island/ (accessed 13 April 2011). | ||
*Wikipedia contributors, "Savannah Town, South Carolina," ''Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia'', http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_Town,_South_Carolina (accessed 12 April 2011). | |||
*Wikipedia contributors, " | *Wikipedia contributors, "Augusta, Georgia," ''Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia'', http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusta,_Georgia (accessed 12 April 2011). | ||
*Wikipedia contributors, " | *[http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/history/earlytrails.txt Georgia History Early Trails] describes westward migration on and route of the Lower Cherokee Traders' Path and other routes through Georgia. | ||
*Wikipedia contributors, "Fall line," ''Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia'', http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_line (accessed 12 April 2011). | |||
=== Sources === | === Sources === | ||
{{reflist}} {{Georgia|Georgia | {{reflist}} {{Georgia|Georgia}}{{South Carolina|South Carolina}} | ||
<div></div> | <div></div> | ||
[[Category:Migration_Routes]] [[Category:US_Migration_Trails_and_Roads]] [[Category: | [[Category:Migration_Routes]] [[Category:US_Migration_Trails_and_Roads]] [[Category:South Carolina Migration Routes]] [[Category:Charleston_County,_South_Carolina]] [[Category:Dorchester_County,_South_Carolina]] [[Category:Colleton_County,_South_Carolina]] [[Category:Bamberg_County,_South_Carolina]] [[Category:Barnwell_County,_South_Carolina]] [[Category:Aiken_County,_South_Carolina]] [[Category:Georgia (state) Migration Routes]] [[Category:Richmond_County,_Georgia]] | ||
Latest revision as of 13:30, 19 August 2025
The Fort Moore-Charleston Trail connected the colonial South Carolina seaport of Charleston with Fort Moore guarding trade on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River across from Georgia's subsequent colony of Augusta. Charleston was the largest European settlement in South Carolina, its capital, its main trade connection to Europe, on the King's Highway, and the start of several other trails. In 1716 Fort Moore was completed at the site of an Indian village that became the important fur trading center of Savannah Town (New Windsor Township after 1737), the primary pelt trading center with Charleston. The Fort-Moore-Charleston trail likely opened at that time. Many other trails also converged on this town just below the fall line, and later on the town of Augusta across the river in Georgia. The Fort Moore-Charleston Trail began in Charleston County, South Carolina and ended in Aiken County, South Carolina. The length of the trail was about 144 miles (232 km).[1]
Historical Background
Charleston was founded in 1670 by English and African immigrants from the Caribbean island of Barbados. It became the largest city and capital of the South Carolina colony. Many trails and roads radiated out from Charleston.
The Westo Indians were the first known residents of Savannah Town, South Carolina, observed there as early as the 1670s. However, they were replaced by Shawnee (Savannah) Indians because of a 1679-1680 trade war. This town became important to the South Carolina colony because it was a prosperous center for the western fur and deer skin trade. Pack trains of animal furs and skins arrived from the Appalachian (Blue Ridge) Mountains and beyond. Savannah Town was just below the fall line, the farthest upriver an ocean-going boat could reach. Iron and manufactured goods were traded for the pelts. Skins from Savannah Town were shipped by boat to Charleston and from there to Europe. In 1715-1716 South Carolina built and garrisoned Fort Moore on the Savannah River to protect this trade from attacks by hostile Indians, Spanish, or French, and presumably about this time opened the Fort Moore-Charleston Trail. In 1730 the area was incorporated as New Windsor Parish and Township. In 1737 about 200 Swiss from the Canton of Appenzell settled the area.[2]
As a western pelt trading center, many Indian trails converged on this area. An old Indian trading trail called the Occaneechi Path stretched from the former Indian village at New Windsor toward Camden, South Carolina, then north to Charlotte, North Carolina, and beyond to Petersburg, Virginia. The Lower Creek Trading Path extended from Savannah Town/New Windsor into the mountains all the way to Clarksdale, Mississippi on the Mississippi River. The Cisca and St. Augustine Trail (or Nickajack Trail) connected the Cumberland River at Nashville, Tennessee to the Savannah River at New Windsor, South Carolina to St. Augustine, Florida on the Atlantic Ocean.
Sometime around 1735 white settlers began using the Camden to New Windsor part of the Occaneechi Path as part of the overlapping Fall Line Road. Settlers from as far away as Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania may have started appearing in Aiken County via this route. Likewise, the Great Valley Road through Virginia to Tennessee had a south fork extension that partly overlapped the Occaneechi Path and Fall Line Road and may have brought settlers from as far away as Pennsylvania to Aiken County by about the 1740s.
In 1735 Augusta, Georgia was founded five miles upriver from Fort Moore by British colonists coming up the Savannah River from Savannah, Georgia. The citizens of Augusta did what they could to deflect the fur and skin trade from Savannah/New Windsor, South Carolina to their Georgia city and their seaport at Savannah, Georgia. In 1740 a ferry service began between the two rival towns of New Windsor and Augusta. However, New Windsor declined in importance. By 1765 the town was abandoned and Fort Moore was closed.[2]
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:[3]
Connecting trails. The Fort Moore-Charleston Trail linked to other trails at each end.[4]
The migration pathways connected at the south end in Charleston County, South Carolina included:
The migration routes connected at the north end in Aiken County, South Carolina, or in Augusta, Richmond, Georgia included:
Modern parallels. The modern roads that roughly match the old Fort Moore-Charleston Trail start in Charleston, South Carolina. From Charleston, take Interstate-26 northwest to Exit 187. Turn south on SC-27 toward Ridgeville. Turn west onto US-78 to the Barnwell-Aiken County border where the road forks left and becomes US-278 into Augusta, Georgia.
Settlers and Records
The first European settlers in Aiken County either came up the Savannah River or Fort Moore-Charleston Trail starting about 1716. Around 1735 white settlers may have started arriving via the Fall Line Road. Many other trails converged here but most were Indian trails and were most likely used by fur trappers and traders rather than by settlers coming to the area. However, in later years whites settlers could have used all these trails for coming to or leaving the area.
No complete list of settlers who used the Fort Moore-Charleston Trail is known to exist. Nevertheless, local and county histories along that trail may reveal pioneer settlers who arrived after 1777 and therefore who were the most likely candidates to have traveled the Fort Moore-Charleston Trail.
For partial lists of early settlers who may have used the Fort Moore-Charleston Trail, see histories like:
in Colleton County, SC:
- Evelyn McDaniel Frazier Bryan, Colleton County, S.C.: a History of the First 160 Years, 1670-1830 (Jacksonville, Florida: Florentine Press, 1993) (FS Library Book 975.795 H2b) WorldCat entry.
in Aiken County, SC:
- Gasper Loren Toole, Ninety Years in Aiken County: Memoirs of Aiken County and Its People (Charleston?, S.C.: s.n., 1959) (FS Library Book 975.775 H2t; Film 1425280 Item 3) WorldCat entry.
- Harold S. Maness, Forgotten Outpost: Fort Moore and Savannah Town, 1685-1765 (Beech Island, South Carolina : Beech Island Historical Society, c1986) (FS Library Book 975.775 H2mh) WorldCat entry.
External Links
- "Beach Island, SC: a History Since 1685," https://www.beechislandhistory.org/history-of-beech-island/ (accessed 13 April 2011).
- Wikipedia contributors, "Savannah Town, South Carolina," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_Town,_South_Carolina (accessed 12 April 2011).
- Wikipedia contributors, "Augusta, Georgia," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusta,_Georgia (accessed 12 April 2011).
- Georgia History Early Trails describes westward migration on and route of the Lower Cherokee Traders' Path and other routes through Georgia.
- Wikipedia contributors, "Fall line," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_line (accessed 12 April 2011).
Sources
- ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), 849. (FS Library Book 973 D27e 2002). WorldCat entry.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Wikipedia contributors, "Savannah Town, South Carolina," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Moore,_South_Carolina (accessed 12 April 2011).
- ↑ South Carolina - The Counties, http://www.carolana.com/SC/Counties/sc_counties_alphabetical_order.html (accessed 7 April 2011).
- ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), 847-61. (FS Library Book 973 D27e 2002) WorldCat entry., and William E. Myer, Indian Trails of the Southeast. (Nashville, Tenn.: Blue and Gray Press, 1971), 12-14, and the book's pocket map "The Trail System of the Southeastern United States in the early Colonial Period" (1923). (FS Library Book 970.1 M992i) WorldCat entry.
- ↑ "South Carolina Counties and Parishes - 1740" in The Royal Colony of South Carolina at http://www.carolana.com/SC/Royal_Colony/sc_royal_colony_counties_parishes_1740.html (accessed 22 April 2011).
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