Grayson County Transportation and Roads

“You Cain’t Git Thar Frum Here”

Table of Contents

Overview
Grayson County Road Orders
Regional Transportation

Overview

Roads were of vital importance to the economic survival of the community as well as to communications. Early residents of the Upper New River Valley realized this fact, however, limited means severely curtailed road building. The county courts in North Carolina and Virginia ruled road building. When the Justices of the Peace decided a road was needed from point A to point B, a committee was appointed to “view” the route. When the committee reported back to the court, it was approved, disapproved or modified as appropriate. When the route was settled, the court appointed a road jury to construct the road. Notably, none of the justices were ever found to have served on the road juries, and thus missed the back-breaking work. Those chosen to construct roads were expected to perform the function as a civic duty and were not paid for their efforts, but could be and were fined if they failed to perform assigned duty. There was little redress if any person felt that he was unfairly assigned road duty.

Road crews were expected to maintain the roads already constructed. Responsibility for road maintenance was that of the overseer. Failure to maintain the road resulted in heavy fines for the overseer and possible dismissal from their post.

There were three types of roads in the early days, bridle paths – wide enough to ride a horse comfortably on maintained by use or individual families or communities; roads – maintained by the county, wide enough for a wagon; and turnpikes which were wide enough for wagons to pass each other at almost any point, and were covered by boards for speed. Turnpikes were typically private enterprises, approved by the county courts, but owned by an individual or group of people for profit.

Road construction was not road construction in the modern sense of the term. The road jury in the earliest days simply cleared out the trees and underbrush along a particular route, wide enough for a wagon and horses to travel. As time progressed so did road technology, and the second series of roads were plank roads, which literally employed boards placed across a trail. Typically these plank roads were called turnpikes and were toll roads. Toll rates for these roads seem inexpensive by current standards, however, at the time, the rates were significant enough to make someone think long and hard about using such a road. On the Horton Turnpike in Ashe County, the county court fixed the rates for travel on the road in 1874 as “each four-wheel carriage, 50 cents; each 2-wheel vehicle 20 cents; each passenger on horse, 10 cents; each foot passenger 5 cents; mules and horses 5 cents per head, cattle 2« cents per head, hogs and sheep, 1 cent per head.”

Roads were built along what was considered the best route, which was most beneficial to the wealthiest landowners, who owned the best land. Bottom land was the easiest to build roads through, however, they were subject to flooding and better locations were near the 100 year flood plain lines near the major streams. Note, that the wealthiest land owners who were also often members of the county courts used their positions to assist in their enterprises. In modern terms there was a severe conflict of interest in these actions, but it occurred on a routine basis. Roads converged on central points, mills, iron forges, churches and the county courthouses. Other points of road convergence were the stream fords and ferries. There were few places that the New River and its tributary streams could not be forded, and fords were numerous, ferries in the early days covered by this book were not. Fords mentioned in the early court orders and road orders were: Island Ford, George Jones’ Ford of the New River, Cox’s Ford of the New River, Whitiker’s Ford, Cover Ford, Peter’s Ford of the New River, Weaver’s Ford, and Deep Ford to name a few. Another key factor in laying out roads was the location of mountain gaps, such as Ward’s Gap, Fancy Gap, Flower Gap, Gleave’s Gap, Ward’s Gap, Cleaver’s Gap, Fisher’s Gap, Deep Gap, Low Gap, Phillip’s and Daniel’s Gap to mention a few. What adjacent counties did in the way of roads also played a minor role in roads, but most of the early roads were strictly for internal travel.

The county court records usually note the road juries and the routes of these early trails. Some of the earliest road orders are:

Grayson County Road Orders

Regional Transportation

The Upper New River Valley, a natural cul-de-sac, was difficult to reach from the days of earliest settlement. By the mid-ante-bellum period the situation was little better. State governments in Virginia and North Carolina were anxious to connect the regions with the remainder of their states. This problem was easier to overcome in Virginia with the construction of the Grayson-Raleigh Turnpike. The Raleigh-Grayson Turnpike followed roughly the late 20th century route of U.S. Highway 21 from Wytheville, through the Elk Creek Valley to Independence to the North Carolina line. The Grayson County portion was approximately 20 miles in length and cost, at the time, the incredible sum of $425 per mile, or nearly $9,000. The specifications for this road were 16 feet in width, Macdamized ditches along each side, and to have all trees, rocks and stumps removed from the road path, a revolution in Mountain road-building. The Raleigh-Grayson turnpike was not, however, paved, and during the rainy, snowy winters and springs of Appalchia, the road became nearly impassible due to mud. Sharp, narrow wagon tires wore deep ruts in the road, and constant repair was requisite to keep the investment from being lost. Despite its faults, the Raleigh-Grayson Turnpike became the key route in and out of the New River Valley in the late ante-bellum period. This road was the route that Grayson County’s soldier marched off to war through. This was the road that Upper New River products were shipped out on and the way that news of the outside world came in on. There was no telegraph office anywhere in the Upper New River Valley until well after the Civil War was over.

The Raleigh-Grayson Turnpike intersected with the Virginia-Tennessee Railway near Wytheville and became the main thorough-fare in and out of the Upper New River Valley. In North Carolina there were several proposals to advance transportation into the Northwest section of the Old North State. The most promising project was a proposed railway from Salisbury through Deep Gap in Watauga County and through that section, down the Watauga River and to connect with the Virginia- Tennessee Railway in East Tennessee. This project had a rival, and a more southern route through Swannanoa Gap. The Southern route, though longer, had fewer engineering difficulties and was the chosen route. This railway was the key reason for the growth of Asheville in Buncombe County in Southwest North Carolina. Many have speculated that a more northerly railway would have spurred the same to similar growth in Northwest North Carolina.

Wagon and horse transportation remained problematic in the Lost Provinces of North Carolina. Winter snows and spring rains tended to destroy the summer’s construction of roads up the Blue Ridge from Wilkes County. After several attempts the effort was virtually abandoned and transportation tended to follow the natural land contours, which led through Virginia, along the New River. This situation was not changed to any appreciable degree until the 1930’s.

During the latter part of the 19th century some North Carolinians from Fayetteville realized the mineral wealth of the Upper New River Valley and proposed construction of transportation spurs into the region. The financing for the proposal never materialized and the idea was dropped and the region continued to be connected to the outside world primarily via the Grayson-Raleigh turnpike.