The Great Wagon RoadEssay Preview: The Great Wagon RoadReport this essayThe Great Wagon RoadImagine you are living in the 1700s. You have invested in land in America and you are searching for a more fulfilling life. Most land in Pennsylvania is already owned however, you hear that there are lands in North Carolina that would be great for farming. Getting there by modern day vehicles were not an option since they were not invented yet, so you have to resort to traveling down a few roads with Conestoga wagons carrying all of your possessions. In the mid 1700s many settlers moved South from Pennsylvania to Virginia and the Carolinas, the most popular route often taken by these people was known as the Great Wagon Road. This road would allow a new beginning for many people however, this trip was far from simple and quick.
The Great Wagon Road was the most heavily traveled route along the eastern coast. The route began at the port of Philadelphia, where a majority of immigrants entered the colonies, this route passed through about every main city along the east coast. The great wagon road passed through Lancaster, Winchester, York, Harrisonburg, Lexington, Rocky Mount, Gettysburg, Harpers Ferry and many other popular cities at the time and now. These cities were not instantly built but began as camp sites along the great wagon road and then transformed into tavern locations, then into county seats, then into info centers for agriculture and industry. In the beginning, the Great wagon road was very narrow, muddy and bumpy. However, the road began to improve due to the massive amount of people using the road to access the Carolinas. This trip even then was still no walk in the park, due to the wagons could not handle the weight load and amount of mileage it was acquiring on the wheels. The next problem that was occurring, was that these people would have to find fresh water sources and food without going off course of the path. (NCOAH)
The Great Wagon Road brought a massive amount of settlers to Piedmont North Carolina between 1735 and 1775. Around 1775, it was estimated that 209,000 settlers had now settled in the colony, this number was six times more than in 1735. A variety of different people had now settled in North Carolina such as Germans, Scots-Irish, and English immigrants, most who had traveled south from Pennsylvania and Virginia. These people began to create civilized towns, such as Salem, Salisbury, Charlotte, Bethania and Bethabara. The diverse background of immigrants in North Carolina molded the state into a backcountry of religious and cultural clashes. Many newcomers from the Pennsylvania region were Quakers. German families were majority Lutheran, with the exceptions of the Moravians. The Irish immigrants were predominantly Presbyterians. Also, the Great awakening swept the English colonies during the 18th century, which resulted in the creation of a few Baptist churches in North Carolina. (NCOAH)
A few of the important settlers of the development of key settlements in North Carolina include Morgan Bryant and the Single Brothers. In the 1740s, one of the first groups to pioneer the Great Wagon Road were “the Bryant Settlement”. The leader was a Quaker named Morgan Bryant. The Bryant Settlement traveled along a path from Pennsylvania into Virginia. Later in 1948, he led a group farther south into North Carolina, where they managed to create a settlement on the Yadkin River near a crossing called the Shallow Ford. The path that the “Bryant Settlement” had pioneered would know be referred to as the Great Philadelphian Wagon Road. The Single Brothers wrote about the hardships they experienced on their conquest to find new land in North
”.The Bryant Settlement had been established in the 18th century and had a population of about 300,000. They numbered about two thousand by about 1870, nearly 1% of the total number during the 19th century. They occupied the site of the Westfield, North Carolina farm of Stu Wilson, „. They were well known for their ability to maintain the settlers’ farmsteads within several years, which they built by the end of the 19th century. The Bryant Settlement was a large settlement building. Each of the 464 buildings were covered with stone with a large circle forming the top. The “top” of each building was about 1,800 feet high and was a large wooden structure, usually of about 12 or 13 stories. The wooden structure was made of brick. The foundation and the woodwork were from North Carolina, where they had taken their name from. The building had a central crossroad, but it was a much higher structure. The structure of the Bryant Settlement was well-built, with an arched roof, which was generally large, narrow with a cross-shaped roof. The roof was connected by a long wire network to form a narrow path to a large gate. This entrance had a double main gate with ramps, a high roof with ramp rails, and three steps that led off to the upper level of the roof. The roof and ramp had separate and distinct exits so that the ramp rails and gate doors could either pass through it or to either side of it, or both. The ramp ramps were covered with metal or stone that allowed entry into various rooms. Stucco windows, the entrance window, were located at the top of the main structure. The door into the main structure was easily distinguishable from the gate. There was also a small room with a fireplace. The side wall of the structure was covered in wood and the sides made of sheeting. The door mechanism was somewhat of a step-by-step design, but its top surface was so smooth that it allowed for the possibility of slipping in through what was in the front windows. The roof was very broad, with 3 or 4 windows on each side, but no more than 3 or 4 in all, and the sides faced each other to produce a long, straight, rectangular shape. The doors opened on its own in spring or summer, and on the day of harvest it was so hard to reach them that all of the neighbors would have to wait until the last day of August where the window opens and the window closes. From winter to spring, there was frequent snow and storms, and the animals would try to find new homes. Each new home was about the size of half a mile, from a place called the Westfield, to a place called the South Carolina Road into Virginia, and from there to the present time every community of North Carolina has a home where they have lived. It is usually said that the North Carolina railroad was the first railroad under the &#