Great Valley Road

United States   Migration    Trails and Roads    Great Valley Road

The Great Valley Road, also called in various parts the "Great Wagon Road," "Great Warriors' Trail," "Valley Pike," "Carolina Road," or "Trading Path," was the most important Colonial American route for settlers of the mountainous backcountry of the southern British colonies. It went from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania over to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia forking into the Tennessee Valley and Knoxville. The other fork went more south into the Piedmont Region of North Carolina, and then to its terminus on the Savannah River at Augusta, Georgia. Several other important early pathways merged with, or split off from the Great Valley Road.

Historical Background
The Great Valley Road was most heavily used by Ulster-Irish immigrants called Scots-Irish in America to spread through most of Appalachia bringing their Presbyterian religion.

The Wilderness Road into Kentucky branched off the Great Valley Road in southwest Virginia.

Route
(Northeast to Southwest)
 * Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
 * Lancaster, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
 * Gettysburg, Adams, Pennsylvania
 * Hagerstown, Washington, Maryland (crosses Cumberland Road)
 * Winchester, Frederick, Virginia (Pioneer Road from Alexandria joins here)
 * Staunton, Augusta, Virginia (start of Kanawah trail to West Virginia)
 * Roanoke, Roanoke, Virginia (trail forks toward Knoxville and Augusta)
 * Bristol, Washinton, Virginia (start of Wilderness Road to Boonesborough
 * Jonesboro, Washington, Tennessee
 * Knoxville, Knox, Tennessee


 * Martinsville, Henry, Virginia (on south fork of the Great Valley Road)
 * Salem, Forsyth, North Dakota
 * Salisbury
 * Charlotte
 * Camden
 * Augusta

Settlers and Records
For partial list of settlers who used the Great Valley Road to settle in ??? , see.