As the Great Wagon Road Project continues to research the old road, the volunteers are organizing the vast amount of materials. The facts and the stories present themselves in many different formats. The historical data is fascinating as we discover the actual route. The communities along the trail proclaim the legacy and we continue to discover civilization that emerged from the wilderness. The most amazing artifact to date has not been the remnants of a long ago highway. Nor has it been the discovery of an 18th century wagon decaying in an open field. The antiquity of this artifact isn’t measured by currency value either. In fact, this treasure trove would be proclaimed as forever priceless, invaluable, incomparable. Something so rich that if lost, it would be irreplaceable, never to be found again.

If you could reach back into time and stand in the middle of the Great Wagon Road you would see a vast amount of wagons heading south. You would hear the bells ringing from the iron between the horses’ shoulders. At times these bells would ring out so loudly that their echo would linger through the valleys and the hills for what seemed like hours. 15 to 20 miles a day of wagon wheels turning, air filled with dust so thick that the sun would hide from the day. One of the favorite sayings of the day was, “You’ll see me with all my bells on.” This meant much more than just arriving with the bells on the horses. This saying meant that the traveler would have no troubles on the road and not one bell would be lost along the way.

The people of the Great Wagon Road are the most important artifact of the old road. Their names are forever sketched in the wilderness that later transformed into towns and cities across Virginia and the Carolinas. Their stories deserve a rightful place in history alongside the road. If the project is successful with national recognition, the members will also request recognition of each and every person who crossed the land by way of this road.

In honor of those travelers, Piedmont Trails is happy to release the following surnames of the Great Wagon Road. These names have surfaced through the project’s research and does not represent in anyway a complete listing of all surnames who traveled this historic route. If you have more information about your family and the Great Wagon Road, we would love to hear from you. The project will be meeting in January to put together the proposal of the final presentation. Also, if you would like to join the project as a volunteer, simply contact Carol on the Contact page of Piedmont Trails.

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Do you have a story about the Great Wagon Road? Let us hear from you !!

Great Wagon Road Surnames From Project

Adams, Alexander, Allison, Andrew, Archibald, Armstrong, Ardnt, Baker, Bailey, Barclay, Barry, Barth, Barton, Bashford, Beard, Behringer, Bell, Berry, Best, Beverly, Biefel, Biehler, Birrer, Black, Blythe, Boggan, Bohm, Boise, Bonacher, Boone, Borden, Bower, Bowman, Brack, Braley, Brandon, Braun, Brevard, Biggs, Brookshire, Bruninger, Bryan, Buhe, Bunting, Burk, Burnett, Butner, Cadogan, Campbell, Carruth, Carson, Carter, Cartledge, Cathey, Cavin, Chambers, Clark, Clingman, Cochran, Cogdell, Coles, Cook, Corbin, Cowan, Coward, Craig, Cramps, Cranston, Crawford, Cresson, Cuningham, Davidson, Davis, Dean, Denny, Dickson, Dill, Dixon, Dobbin, Docharty, Dobbs, Douglas, Dry, Dunn, Early, Eaton, Edwards, Eller, Ellis, Ernhardt, Erwin, Evans, Fanning, Feltmatt, Feree, Fincher, Fischer, Fleming, Fletcher, Forbush, Forster, Francis, Franck, Frick, Frohock, Frost, Fullerton, Furly, gamble, Gardiner, Giles, Gillespie, Gist, Given, Glen, Gracy, Graham, Grant, Gray, Grob, Gullick, hall, Hamilton, Hardin, Harford, Harmon, Harnett, Harris, Harrison, Hartmann, Heath, Heller, Hendricks, Hendry, Henkel, Henley, Henry, Hill, Holdman, Holmes, Houston, Howard, Huey, Huggen, Hughes, Hunt, Hunter, Innes, Irwin, Jenkins, Johnston, Jones, Jordan, Keith, Kennedy, Kerr, Kilpatrick, KIng, Kirkland, Kirkpatrick, Knox, Kuhn, Kurr, Lacewell, Lafferty, Lagle, Lambert, Lawrence, Lawson, Lederer, Leech, Lewis, Lindsay, Lingel, Linville, Little, Lock, Logan, Long, Luckey, Lynn, McAden, McConnell, McCorkle, McCulloch, McDonald, McDowell, McElwrath, McFeeters, McGuire, McHenry, McKee, McKnight, McMachan, McManus, McPherson, McQuown, McWhorter, Mackey, Magoune, Marlin, Marsh, Martin, Matthews, Matzinger, Mertz, Miller, Minshall, Mitchell, Montgomery, Mordah, Morgan, Morrison, Muller, Murray, Neill, Nichols, Nussmann, Oglethorpe, Oliphant, Osborne, Paine, Parker, Parks, Parsons, Patten, Patterson, Patton, Pelham, Pendry, Phillips, Pickens, Porter, Potts, Rankin, Reed, Reese, Reid, Riddle, Rigby, Reads, Roberts, Robinson, Ross, Rothwell, Ruddle, Russell, Rutherford, Ryle, Satterwaite, Salz, Schiles, Schmidt, Schor, Scott, Sherrill, Sill, Simonton, Sloan, Smith, Sparks, Steel, Steigner, Stevenson, Stewart, Story, Strayhorn, Strain, Stroher, Tate, Templeton, Thomas, Thomason, Thompson, Thornton, Todd, Turner, Underhill, Veit, Verrell, Vigers, Vogeli, Volenweider, Volker, Waddell, Waggoner, Wainwright, Wallock, Walton, Watt, Whitaker, White, Whiteside, Wilcockson, Williams, Wilson, Winsley, Witherspoon, Woods, Wright and Young.

Enjoy Your Journey !!