Heading to Kentucky on the Wilderness Road

National Expansion and Reform
Written By Tom Hand

The Wilderness Road, running from northeast Tennessee through the Cumberland Gap, was the main thoroughfare from 1775 to 1820 for Americans heading west into the new promised lands of Kentucky. The pathway, blazed by Daniel Boone, was our nation’s first migration highway, but the trip was not for the faint of heart.

Tom Hand, creator and publisher of Americana Corner, explores how western migration allowed our young nation to expand its boundaries and begin to harvest the region’s incredible riches, and why it still matters today.

Images courtesy of National Park Service, North Carolina State Archives, Library of Congress, Britannica Online, New York Public Library, Yale University Art Gallery, Wikipedia. 

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Tom Hand
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