Avery's Trace
Avery's Trace was the principal road used by settlers travelling from the Knoxville area in East Tennessee to the Nashville area from 1788 to the mid-1830s.
In an effort to encourage settlers to move west into the new territory of Tennessee, in 1787 North Carolina ordered a road to be cut to lead settlers into the Cumberland Settlements — from the south end of Clinch mountain (in East Tennessee) to French Lick (Nashville). Peter Avery, a hunter familiar with the area, directed the blazing of this trail through the wilderness.
He had the trail laid out along trails which the Cherokee Indians had long made their own and frequently used as war paths, following passages of buffalo. It led from Fort Southwest Point at Kingston through the Cumberland Mountains up into what is now Jackson County, Tennessee to Fort Blount. From there it worked through the hills and valleys of upper Middle Tennessee to Bledsoe's Fort at Castalian Springs, then to Mansker's Fort (near modern Goodlettsville), and finally to Fort Nashborough. These five forts provided shelter and protection for travelers along the Trace.
In 1787, the Assembly of North Carolina provided 300 soldiers to be available for protection at the Cumberland Settlements. The soldiers assisted Avery in laying out the Trace, and each soldier was paid with a land grant of 800 acres (3.2 km2) for one year's work. A 10-foot (3 m) wide trail was cleared. In that year, 25 families traveled along the new road. By 1788, the "Trace" was still merely a rough trail marked by trees scored (or "blazed") to guide the pioneers and travelers. For several years, only people on horseback and with pack horses could follow the rugged trail. Journals of many travelers along the Trace detail hardship encountered as they journeyed for several days to make the 300-mile (480 km) trip. The Trace was called the "Walton Road," "North Carolina Road," "Avery's Trace", and sometimes "The Wilderness Road."
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