Kentucky 1491

In the Time of the Original Peoples

The Ancient Trails of Kentucky

- Repeatability

Best Trail Segments for Biking

Morgan's Station Trail

Route 784 to Iron Hill, then south on Rockhouse Road and Smith Branch to Rt. 60 (10 miles)

Route 801 and Route 460 through Cave Run and then along Beaver Creek to Frenchburg (15 miles)

From Grayson on Rt. 7 to Rt. 773 to EK Railroad Dr. to Grahn Rd to Sinking Creek Rd. to Grahn (10 miles)

Warrior's Path

From Vanceburg on Rt 3037 to Rt. 10 to Rt. 989 then up Toller Hollow Rd. to its end. (10 miles)

Rt. 11 from the Licking River to Interstate 64. (10 miles)

Rt. 1331 from Rt. 965 to Harpers Ridge Rd. to Morgan's Station to Spenser Rd. (5 miles)

Wagersville Rd. from Rt. 89 to Rt. 587 (10 miles)

Best Trail Segments for Hiking and Camping

Morgan's Station Trail

Route 784 to Iron Hill, then south on Rockhouse Road and Smith Branch to Rt. 60 (10 miles)

Tygarts Creek and Cave Branch trails within Carter Caves State Resort Park (8 miles)

Sheltowee Trace

In and around Cave Run Lake (4 miles)

Warrior's Path Segments on the Seltowee Trace

Rt. 646 from Rt. 11 to Kidville Rd. to Rt. 15 (5 miles)

Wagersville Rd. from Rt. 89 to Daniel Boone National Forest, then south to Grayhawk (20 miles)

Shawnee Migration Route Map

Cultural Boundaries Map

Note the trail marked as running between the area of the upper Tygarts Creek and the Little Sandy River.
I've zoomed in on that area below:

The wide horizonal double line is the Ohio River.

The Scioto River is the vertical black line in the upper left of this image.
This is confirmed by the placement of Lower Shawnee town.

The vertical black line on the right is the Big Sandy River.

There are two very faint vertical lines just to the left of the Big Sandy that seem to converge
at a point where a broadly drawn trail from the south jogs off to the east to cross
the Big Sandy and continue on to the northeast to the Ohio River near the
Kanawah River ("Kanhawa R.") in West Virginia.
At first I thought these represented the Little Sandy and Tygarts Creek, but then I noticed
that the two lines are extended across the Ohio River. This would seem to indicate that
the two faint lines represent trails, rather the courses of two streams. As documented in the
book "In Search of Morgan's Station", both Tygarts Creek and the Little Sandy River were known
to be trails from interior Kentucky to the Ohio River.

I did some searching on the internet and was able to find only one map of Native American trails
in the area of the Scioto River. None of them are to the immediate east of the Scioto.

This is a zoomed image of the area in question:

The routing of the Ohio River is pretty crude, but the Scioto River is clearly labeled "Bates Creek".

Excerpt from "Kentucky Cherokee: People of the Cave" by Dr. Tankersley

A larger image of this map

Native American names used in our region

"Ah-wah-nee" - Native American settlement near present day Irvine, Ky.

"Ken-ta-ke" - "Place of Blue Licks" - Kentucky

"Oua-sioto" - the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky

"Kinniconnick" Shawnee word that meant "willow bark" - Kinniconick Creek

"Nepernine" - the Licking River

"Scioto" - the Scioto River

"Amazing Grace" (in Cherokee)

Article on Shawnee names used in Kentucky