Fort Moore-Charleston Trail

United States   Migration    Trails and Roads    Fort Moore-Charleston Trail

The Fort Moore-Charleston Trail connected the colonial South Carolina seaport of Charleston with Fort Moore guarding trade on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River across from Georgia's subsequent colony of Augusta. Charleston was the largest European settlement in South Carolina, its capital, its main trade connection to Europe, on the King's Highway, and the start of several other trails. Fort Moore was at the site of an Indian village that became the important fur trading center of Savannah Town (New Windsor Township after 1737), the primary pelt trading center with Charleston. Many trails converged on this town just below the fall line, and later on Augusta across the river in Georgia. The Fort Moore-Charleston Trail began in Charleston County, South Carolina and ended in Aiken County, South Carolina. The length of the trail was about 144 miles (232 km).

Historical Background
Charleston was founded in 1670 by English and African immigrants from the Caribbean island of Barbados. It became the largest city and capital of the South Carolina colony. Many trails and roads radiated out from Charleston.

The Westo Indians were the first known residents of Savannah Town, South Carolina, observed there as early as the 1670s. However, they were replaced by Shawnee (Savannah) Indians because of a 1679-1680 trade war. This town became important to the South Carolina colony because it was a prosperous center for the western fur and deer skin trade. The town was just below the fall line, the farthest upriver an ocean going boat could get. Skins from Savannah Town were shipped by boat to Charleston and from there to Europe. In 1715-1716 South Carolina built and garrisoned Fort Moore on the Savannah River to protect this trade from attacks by hostile Indians, Spanish, or French, and presumably about this time opened the Fort Moore-Charleston Trail. In 1730 the area was incorporated as New Windsor Parish and Township. In 1737 about 200 Swiss from the Canton of Appenzell settled the area.

An old Indian trading trail called the Occaneechi Path stretched from the former Indian village at New Windsor toward Camden, South Carolina, then north to Charlotte, North Carolina, and beyond to Petersburg, Virginia. Sometime around 1735 white settlers began using the Camden to New Windsor part of this trail as part of the overlapping Fall Line Road. Settlers from as far away as Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania may have started appearing in Aiken County via this route. Likewise, the Great Valley Road through Virginia to Tennessee had a south fork extension that partly overlapped the Occaneechi Path and Fall Line Road and may have brought settlers from as far away as Pennsylvania to Aiken County by about the 1740s.

In 1735 Augusta, Georgia was founded five miles upriver from Fort Moore. The citizens of Augusta did what they could to deflect the fur and skin trade from Savannah/New Windsor, South Carolina to their Georgia city and their seaport at Savannah, Georgia. In 1740 a ferry service began between the two rival towns of New Windsor and Augusta. However, New Windsor declined in importance. By 1765 the town had vanished and Fort Moore was closed.

As roads developed in America settlers were attracted to nearby communities because the roads provided access to markets. They could sell their products at distant markets, and buy products made far away. If an ancestor settled near a road, you may be able to trace back to a place of origin on a connecting highway.

Route
The first European colonists settled in counties along this trail (north to south) as follows:


 * Charleston County, South Carolina 1670 by English and African Barbadians
 * Dorchester 1696 by New Englanders from Massachusetts
 * Colleton 1682 by English, and French Huguenots
 * Bamberg 1750s by French Huguenots, and Scots-Irish (that is Ulster Irish)
 * Barnwell 1740s by Swiss/Palatines, and Scots-Irish
 * Aiken 1715 by British military garrison, 1737 by Swiss/Palatines, and French Huguenots
 * Richmond County, Georgia 1735 by British colonists from Savannah, Georgia

Connecting trails. The Fort Moore-Charleston Trail linked to other trails at each end. Other trails also crossed it in the middle.

The migration pathways connected at the north end in Washington County, Virginia included:


 * Great Indian Warpath pre-historic (overlapped by the Great Valley Road opened to European settlers about 1744).
 * Fort Moore-Charleston Trail pre-historic
 * Wilderness Road 1775

The migration routes connected at the south end in Oconee County, South Carolina, or in Tugaloo, Stephens, Georgia included:


 * Savannah River pre-historic
 * Fort Moore-Charleston Trail pre-historic
 * Lower Cherokee Traders' Path pre-historic
 * Coosa-Tualoo Indian Warpath
 * Tugaloo-Apalachie Bay Trail
 * Augusta and Cherokee Trail about 1777
 * Fort Charlotte and Cherokee Old Path about 1777
 * Upper Road about 1783
 * Unicoi Trail or Turnpike 1813

Between those two ends the Fort Moore-Charleston Trail was also crossed by several other important routes:


 * Jonesboro Road after 1769 crossed the Fort Moore-Charleston Trail near the Burke/McDowell county border, NC. The Jonesboro Road connected New Bern, North Carolina to Jonesborough and Knoxville, Tennessee.
 * Rutherford's War Trace opended in 1776 through the same place because it overlapped the Jonesboro Road there.
 * Catawba Trail a pre-historic route met the Fort Moore-Charleston Trail near the North Carolina/South Carolina border. The Catawba Trail connected the Lower Cherokee villages with the Cumberland Gap and Wilderness Road into Kentucky.
 * Old South Carolina State Road opened in 1747 and met the Fort Moore-Charleston Trail near the North Carolina/South Carolina border. The Old South Carolina State Road made its way to Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina. A branch of the Old State Road also may have followed the Fort Moore-Charleston Trail to Fort Prince George, Keowee, and Tugaloo.

Modern parallels. The modern roads that roughly match the old Fort Moore-Charleston Trail start in Toccoa, Georgia. From Toccoa, take US-123 east to Easley, South Carolina, then east on US-124 to Greenville. Go north on US-25 to SC-11. Turn east on SC-11 to Gowensville. Take SC-14 north to Landrum, then northwest on US-176/Asheville Highway to Tryon, North Carolina. Turn north and then east onto NC-108 to Rutherfordton. Take US-64 north to Lenoir, then go north on US-321 to Boone. Take US-421 to Mountain City, then turn northeast onto NC-91 to Damascus, Tennessee. From Damascus take US-58 northwest to I-81, the Interstate version of the Great Valley Road.

Settlers and Records
The Great Valley Road was the trail leading to the north end of the Fort Moore-Charleston Trail. A few colonists settled in Washington County Virginia in the early 1750s but decided to leave for safety reasons during the French and Indian War. The Lower Cherokee Villages on the South Carolina and Georgia part of the Fort Moore-Charleston Trail inhibited most European settlements until the American Revolutionary War. Settlers prior to 1777 were most likely using trails other than the Fort Moore-Charleston Trail to reach their new homes.

No complete list of settlers who used the Fort Moore-Charleston Trail is known to exist. Nevertheless, local and county histories along that trail may reveal pioneer settlers who arrived after 1777 and therefore who were the most likely candidates to have traveled the Fort Moore-Charleston Trail.

For partial lists of early settlers who may  have used the Fort Moore-Charleston Trail, see histories like:

in Washington County, VA:


 * Lewis Preston Summers, History of Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, Washington County, 1777-1870 (1903; reprint, Baltimore: Regional Pub. Co., 1971) WorldCat entry.

in Oconee County, SC:


 * Frederick Van Clayton, Settlement of Pendleton District, 1777-1800 (Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, c1988) WorldCat entry. The old Pendleton District embraced the present counties of Anderson, Oconee, and Pickens. Includes plats and their owners taken from the "State Record of Plat Books."

in Stephens County, GA:


 * Katheryn Curtis Trogdon, History of Stephens County, Georgia (Toccoa, Ga.: Toccoa Womans Club, [c1973]). WorldCat entry.