Cumberland and Great Lake Trail
Route[edit | edit source]
Compilation of various trails starting at Nashville, Tennessee, heading north through Kentucky to Shawneetown, Kentucky, a major port on the Ohio River. From there it joined up with other routes heading north through Ohio to the Great Lakes. Check the link to the map below to see the various routes and trails that make up this title.
One first passes through the Cumberland Gap, a key passageway through the lower central Appalachians, used by Native Americans. Then the Wilderness Road forks, the southern fork passed over the Cumberland Plateau to Nashville, Tennessee via the Cumberland River. The northern fork split into two parts. The eastern spur went into the Bluegrass region of Kentucky to Boonesborough on the Kentucky River (near Lexington). This is the section known as the Boone Trace. The western spur ran to the Falls of the Ohio (Louisville). As settlements grew southward, the road stretched all the way to Knoxville, Tennessee, by 1792. (Wikipedia)
Map of trail[edit | edit source]
- See trail numbers 30 and 31.
- Take note of all the other various routes a settler could have taken after passing through the Cumberland Gap and heading north or to points west.
