Where are the Boot Marks? Evaluating the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail

Summary

The Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail is a Revolutionary War route used by an estimated 1,040 patriot militia during the Kings Mountain campaign of 1780. It totals approximately 272 miles from the mustering point near Abingdon, Virginia, to Sycamore Shoals (near Elizabethton, Tennessee); from Sycamore Shoals to Quaker Meadows (near Morganton, North Carolina); from the mustering point in Surry County, North Carolina, to Quaker Meadows; and from Quaker Meadows to Kings Mountain, South Carolina. Almost none of the route exists as an original and discernible trail and there are many places where the route has been heavily disturbed or encroached upon by modern land uses. There are currently 19 National Historic Trails in the United States, delineated to follow as closely as possible the original overland or water routes important to the history of the nation. How do you best evaluate, protect, and preserve not only an extremely long linear cultural resource but also one that has little to no physical manifestation?

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21983