The discussion in recent notes draws heavily upon the book, " Map Guide to American Migration Routes 1735-1815 ", by William Dollarhide. The book is well illustrated with maps, but it also describes the old roads by reference to a modern road atlas. (Many modern roads follow very closely to the original routes.) The book is in a large page format to permit the maps to be shown better. There are only 41 pages, but the essentials are there. It was designed for the genealogist who wants to trace the migrations of families.
Roads to the southwest have not been mentioned so far. In colonial times, the southwest was what we call today the " deep south ". Southern development lagged compared to the other colonies. Georgia was not founded as a royal colony until 1732. Even as late as 1790, most of the Georgian population lived within 25 miles of the South Carolina border. Western Georgia was controlled by Indian tribes, especially the Creeks and Cherokees, who had recognized areas set aside for their use. The one area that was developed early was the mouth of the Mississippi River which was strategically important since the river served as an important route of commerce.
The first land road to the Mississippi River was the Natchez Trace, an old Indian trail that ran from Natchez on the Mississippi to Nashville. The first settlers of Kentucky and Ohio had only one way to reach the market for their grain. That was down the Mississippi to New Orleans. The people who made this trip in flat boats returned home by the Natchez Trace. The road was extended from Nashville to Lexington to the Ohio River at Maysville very early.
Many of the Gulf Coast areas were claimed by and actually controlled by Spain. From 1797 to 1819, the U.S. acquired the lands from Spain, mostly by purchase. It was not until the end of the first quarter of the century that the Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Arkansas territories were all in place. These were reached on land by extensions of the Fall Line Road; the Great Valley, or Great Wagon Road; and the Wilderness Roads.
If all of the roads that have been discussed in this series were plotted on one map, one would see that Philadelphia was an important hub or terminus for many of the routes. The King's Highway, or Post Road, ran up and down the coast, and went through Philadelphia. Access to the Fall Line Road, the Upper Road, the Great Valley Road, Braddock's Road, and Forbe's Road were all possible from Philadelphia. Philadelphia had access to the sea and so the town became, within one hundred years of its founding, the second largest english-speaking city in the world. At the same time, Hessian soldiers during the Revolution said it was like being at home. Because it was a major center, many of our Germanna people came through Philadelphia even at an early date.
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.