“I left Fort Butler on the 19th in charge of 800 Cherokees. I had not an officer along to assist me, and only my own company as a guard…”
— Capt. L.B. Webster, June 28, 1838.
Just as our modern communities, states, and regions are integrated by the interstate highway system, the old Cherokee Nation was interconnected by a network of trails that linked town settlements. For Cherokee villages, these foot trails were conduits to the outside world; people, goods, and information moved constantly over the trail system. In traveling the Cherokee Heritage Trail, visitors follow many ancient pathways that have been supplanted by modern roads. Seldom are these native paths discernible; recent development and road building have obliterated all vestiges of most Cherokee trails. However, much of the Unicoi Turnpike path, one of the main arteries of the Cherokee trail system, can still be retraced across southeastern Tennessee, southwestern North Carolina, and northeastern Georgia. Major segments of this trans-Appalachian route, which was developed as a commercial wagon road in the early nineteenth century, survive intact on national forest lands, and can be experienced by driving and hiking between the heritage trail interpretive hubs at Vonore, Tennessee, and Murphy, North Carolina.
During the eighteenth century, British travelers referred to the Unicoi Turnpike route as the “Tellico Path,” the “Overhill Trading Path,” or simply, the “great trading path.” This ancient route spanned the Cherokee Nation, connecting the Lower Towns in the foothills of South Carolina and Georgia with the Overhill settlements of eastern Tennessee. European traders, soldiers, and diplomats from the Carolina coast who plied this path entered the Cherokee back country along the north side of the Savannah River in South Carolina. The northern branch of the trail passed through the Lower towns of Keowee (now Lake Keowee, S.C.) and Oconee, crossed Oconee Mountain, and passed through Chattooga Town (where U.S. Highway 28 crosses Chattooga River). From the Chattooga River, the trail ascended Warwoman Creek, then descended Tuckaleechee Creek to Stecoah Old Town, near present-day Clayton, Georgia. Here, the path was joined by a southern branch, which ran through the Lower towns of Tugalo (now Lake Hartwell, near Toccoa, Georgia) and Tallulah to Stecoah. The area around Clayton is still known as “The Dividings,” a place where paths join and diverge.
Contact information: Tennessee Overhill Heritage Association
P.O. Box 143
L & N Depot
Etowah, TN 37331
Phone: (423) 263-7232