US Migration Trails and Roads
United States > Migration > Trails and Roads
| Name | Date Opened | Usual Origin | Usual Destination |
| Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (Chihuahua Trail) | 1598 | Mexico City, Mexico | Santa Fe, New Mexico |
| King's Highway (Boston Post Road) | 1650/1735 | Boston, Massachusetts | Charleston, South Carolina |
| Albany Post Road | 1669 | New York City, New York | Albany, New York |
| Camino Real (California) | 1683 | San Bruno, Mexico | Sonoma, California |
| Camino Real de los Tejas (Old San Antonio Road) | 1690s | Guerrero, Mexico | Natchitoches, Louisiana |
| Fall Line Road | 1735 | Fredericksburg, Virginia | Augusta, Georgia |
| Great Wagon (or Great Valley) Road | 1750s | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Augusta, Georgia |
| Upper Road | 1750s | Fredericksburg, Virginia | Greenville, South Carolina |
| Braddock's Road | 1755 | Fort Cumberland, Maryland | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Forbes Road | 1759 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Wilderness Road | 1775 | Block House, Virginia | Boonesborough/Louisville, Kentucky |
| Zane's Trace | 1796 | Wheeling, (West) Virginia | Maysville, Kentucky |
| Natchez Trace | 1801/1809 | Natchez, Mississippi | Nashville, Tennessee (later Maysville, Kentucky) |
| Federal Horse Path | 1805 | Milledgeville, Georgia | Mobile, Alabama |
| National Road (Cumberland Road) | 1818/1839 | Cumberland, Maryland (later Baltimore) | Vandalia, Illinois (later St. Louis, Missouri) |
| Santa Fe Trail | 1821 | Independence, Missouri | Santa Fe, New Mexico |
| Old Spanish Trail | 1830 | Santa Fe, New Mexico | Los Angeles, California |
| Oregon Trail | 1841 | Independence, Missouri | Oregon City, Oregon |
| California Trail | 1841 | Independence, Missouri | Sacramento, California |
| Mormon Trail | 1846/1847 | Nauvoo, Illinois | Salt Lake City, Utah |
| Butterfield Overland Mail | 1857 | Memphis, Tennessee, or St. Louis, Missouri | San Francisco, California |
| Bozeman Trail | 1863 | Fort Laramie, Wyoming | Virginia City, Montana |
There were several major migration trails across the United States, and many shorter state or regional paths of migration. Some of the better-known trails our ancestors may have followed are: