View source for User:VasquezJL/Migration on the Kentucky Road

''[[United States|United States&nbsp;]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] &nbsp;[[United States Migration Internal|Migration&nbsp;]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] &nbsp;[[US Migration Trails and Roads|Trails and Roads&nbsp;]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] &nbsp;[[Kentucky Road|Kentucky Road]]''[[Image:{{KentRdMap}}]] 

The '''Kentucky Road''' was the first pathway to Middle Tennessee for American settlers. The Middle Tennessee pioneers of 1779 followed Daniel Boone's [[Wilderness Road]] via the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky, but then split off that road and headed southwest on the north side of the Cumberland River toward the salt licks, hunting grounds, and prime farmlands of Middle Tennessee.<ref name="ETHSFirst">East Tennessee Historical Society, ''[http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/44435788 First Families of Tennessee: a Register of Early Settlers and Their Present-day Descendants]'' (Knoxville, Tenn.: East Tennessee Historical Society, c2000) [{{FHL|976.8 H2ff}}], 23-24.</ref> 

=== Historical Background  ===

The '''Kentucky Road''' could also be described as a southern fork of the [[Wilderness Road]]. In 1779 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watauga_Association Watauga] pioneers led by James Robertson followed the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap and across the Cumberland River. Then they made their way on the north side of that river past the "Kentucky barrens" toward French Lick (now Nashville, Tennessee).<ref name="ETHSFirst" /><ref name="null">Wikipedia Contributors, "Nashville, Tennessee" in ''Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia'' at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville,_Tennessee (accessed 6 August 2010).</ref> 

This route was the primary trail to the Cumberland settlements at least until [[Avery's Trace]] was opened in 1788, and could accomadate wagons about 1795. Even then, Avery's was a difficult trail. Apparently some pioneers continued to&nbsp;select the Kentucky Road route as an alternate to the shorter Avery's Trace. 

[[Cherokee Indians|Cherokee Indians]] were at war ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickamauga_wars Chickamauga Wars]) with the American pioneers until 1794. The hostilities started with [[Revolutionary War, 1775 to 1783|American War for Independence]] raids back and forth between Indians allied with the British and American Patriot setters in East and Middle Tennessee. Cumberland settlers (including Donalson's flotilla in 1780) and pioneers on the Kentucky Road were subject to Indian raids.<ref>Wikipedia Contributors, "Chickamauga Wars (1776–1794)" in ''Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia'' at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickamauga_Wars_(1776%E2%80%931794) (accessed 6 August 2010).</ref> After 1794 when the Indian threat ended, the white population of Middle Tennessee expanded rapidly.<ref>''First Families'', 24-25.</ref> 

The Kentucky Road, Avery's Trace, and the Natchez Trace Extension followed almost the same path through Davidson and Sumner counties in Tennessee. The [[Natchez Trace|Natchez Trace]], an old Indian trail also used by the French, was probably the oldest overland way to reach French Lick. The Kentucky Road opended in 1779 to American pioneers and was&nbsp;succeeded by [[Avery's Trace|Avery's Trace]] in 1787. By 1795 the Walton Road took a slightly more southern route than Avery's. In 1796 the [[Natchez Trace|Natchez Trace]] was extended to Limestone (Maysville, Kentucky) on the Ohio River. In 1805 the [[Georgia Road|Georgia Road]] followed part of the Middle Cherokee Path to connect Athens, Georgia to Nashville, Tennessee. And in 1816 the U.S. Congress officially upgraded [[Jackson's Military Road|Jackson's Military Road]] to connect New Orleans, Louisiana, with Nashville via a junction with the Natchez Trace at Tupelo, Mississippi. 

Pioneers also used rivers to reach Nashville. Enduring several Indian battles, the Donalson flotilla of 1780 reached French Lick by drifting down the Tennessee River and then&nbsp;making their way&nbsp;up the Cumberland River. Both rivers later had steamboat traffic.