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''[[United States|United States]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] [[United States Migration Internal|Migration]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] [[US Migration Trails and Roads|Trails and Roads]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] [[Occaneechi_Path|Occaneechi Path]]'' | ''[[United States|United States]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] [[United States Migration Internal|Migration]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] [[US Migration Trails and Roads|Trails and Roads]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] [[Occaneechi_Path|Occaneechi Path]]'' | ||
The '''Occaneechi Path''' or "Trading Path," also called the "Indian Trading Path," "Catawba Path," "Catawba Road," "Indian Road," or "Warriors' Path" was a corridor of roads and trails (not just one path) connecting the Piedmont region including Chesapeake Bay (Petersburg, VA), Occaneechi Village (Clarksville, VA), the Waxhaws (Charlotte, NC), and Cherokee villages of the Carolinas and Georgia (Augusta, GA) | The '''Occaneechi Path''' or "Trading Path," also called the "Indian Trading Path," "Catawba Path," "Catawba Road," "Indian Road," or "Warriors' Path" was a corridor of roads and trails (not just one path) connecting the Piedmont region including Chesapeake Bay (Petersburg, VA), Occaneechi Village (Clarksville, VA), the Waxhaws (Charlotte, NC), and Cherokee villages of the Carolinas and Georgia (Augusta, GA).<ref name="TP">Wikipedia contributors, "Trading Path," ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia'', http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trading_Path (accessed 26 January 2011).</ref> The length of the '''Occaneechi Path''' from the Petersburg, Virginia to Augusta, Georgia was roughly 510 miles (820 km). | ||
=== Historical Background === | === Historical Background === | ||
The path was named after the Occaneechi (also Occoneechee, Akenatzy), a small but important tribe who acted as trading middlemen, and who lived primarily on a four-mile long island on the Dan and Roanoke rivers near present-day Clarksville, Virginia. At first the Occaneechi served as contacts between Europeans and Cherokee and other interior tribes. Because of their trade contacts their language was widely used and understood by the leaders of many nations.<ref>Wikipedia contributors, "Occaneechi," ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia'', http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occaneechi (accessed 26 January 2011).</ref> | The path was named after the Occaneechi (also Occoneechee, Akenatzy), a small but important tribe who acted as trading middlemen, and who lived primarily on a four-mile long island on the Dan and Roanoke rivers near present-day Clarksville, Virginia. At first the Occaneechi served as contacts between Europeans and Cherokee and other interior tribes. Because of their trade contacts their language was widely used and understood by the leaders of many nations.<ref>Wikipedia contributors, "Occaneechi," ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia'', http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occaneechi (accessed 26 January 2011).</ref> | ||
The Occaneechi Path was well enough designed to be roughly followed by railroads and parts of Interstate Highways 85, 77, and 20.<ref name="TP" /> | Early Virginia explorers describe the Occaneechi village. As a result of wars they were soon joined with the Suponi tribe and eventually moved out of the area. But the trails they pioneered were put to good use and improved. Pack caravans plied the Occaneechi Path with guns, gunpowder, knives, jewelry, blankets, and hatchets in trade for furs and deerskins.<ref name="TP" /> | ||
Along the way several other significant pathways overlapped or forked off this path including parts of the [[Upper Road]], the [[Fall Line Road]], the [[Great Valley Road]] (South Fork), and the [[Lower Cherokee Traders' Path]]. In the late 1740s white pioneers began using the Occaneechi Path to settle inland Virginia, and the Carolinas although they usually called it the [[Upper Road]]. The Ulster-Irish were the largest ethnic group to use the Path this way. | |||
Much later the old Occaneechi Path was well enough designed through mountain gaps and connecting good river fords to be roughly followed by railroads and parts of Interstate Highways 85, 77, and 20.<ref name="TP" /> | |||
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. | 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. | ||