Elke Hall's suggestion of visiting the Great Wagon Road through the eyes of the Moravians was a good idea. It was so good that I am going to horn in with another Moravian contribution.
In 1743, two Moravians, Leonhard Schnell and Robert Hussey set out for Georgia from Pennsylvania. The journey was to take five months (but that included waiting for their baggage). They left on November 6, so the trip was definitely in the winter. From Bethlehem, they went to Philadelphia, thence to Lancaster and to York. In York, they recorded that all the inhabitants were "High Germans." They were going by foot, carrying what they needed with them. The trip was of a missionary nature. Because of the scarcity of ministers, it was not hard to obtain an audience. For example, at York, an innkeeper asked Schnell to preach a sermon which he did for an assemblage of villagers rounded up by the innkeeper.
Leaving York, the two pilgrims descended into Maryland and forded in succession three shallow rivers. At the third river, the Monacacy, Schnell had to carry his companion across because the two had walked forty miles since sunup and were very tired. Near Frederick, Maryland, they found many Lutheran and Reformed members who wanted a sermon and they were obliged by the missionaries. Between Frederick and the Potomac River they encountered only two houses in this twenty-mile stretch. They had gone without eating because no food could be obtained.
Near Winchester, in Virginia, the two stopped at the inn of Jost Hite. Jost described the road ahead as 150 miles of Scotch-Irish settlements (this would have been the route which became the Great Wagon Road), which discouraged the missionaries. Learning of an alternative way, they went east of the Blue Ridge Mountains and passed close to Warrenton, Virginia. This, we know, brought them close to Germantown, where the First Germanna Colony was living. One man here told them that a recent ship, bringing immigrants, had lost 150 of its passengers due to drowning. Schnell was requested to stay and preach in the church they had but for which they had no minister. The sermon was so well received that Schnell was requested to stay and become their minister, but he declined.
In the November rains, the two Moravians started southward again. Creeks were swollen. They crossed the Rappahannock in a canoe and stopped at an inn kept by Christopher Kuefer [who was this?]. They plodded along slowly, but were stopped near the Orange County Courthouse, where an English settler demanded to see their passports. Schnell declined and then several farmers of the region took him to a justice of the peace. Here Schnell and Hussey produced their passports and were allowed to leave. By early December they had reached southern Virginia.
In North Carolina, a German Reformed member persuaded them to give a sermon in German, saying that it had been several years since they had heard a sermon in German. Continuing the trip, the missionaries encountered snow, which at times forced them to remain indoors. Turning to the east, they reached Charles Town, South Carolina, on Christmas eve.
Along the way, the missionaries were discouraged that letters had been circulated by the Lutherans and Reformed people, which spoke of the Moravians in an evil manner. By January 21, they were still twenty miles from Savannah. In Savannah, they boarded a sloop, the John Penrose, for the return trip to Pennsylvania. They returned home to Bethlehem on April 10. Thus the trip by sea was almost as time consuming as the walk had been.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.