Early Kentucky

Woods in Carter County, Kentucky

Kentucky’s history is a history of exploration into a wilderness land.  The parks in Louisville have the names of the region's native Americans in the names.  When George Rogers Clark came into the present-day Kentucky the area was a place of wilderness.  The place was covered with grasslands and forests.  Bison traveled across the state on worn paths through the trees and grass.

Shawnee hunting parties were consistently seen.  A corridor between present day Ohio and present-day Tennessee passed through present day Kentucky.   The area of Chattanooga, Tennessee in the South was connected to the area of Xenia, Ohio in the North.  The Shawnee came from the north and the Cherokee came from the south traveling into many areas of Eastern Kentucky.  During the Revolutionary War Captain Henry Bird commanded a combined force of British soldiers from Detroit and native American fighters.  Captain Bird was unsuccessful in overcoming the settlers turned militiamen in Kentucky.

The pathway between Chattanooga and Xenia was known as Athawominee.  The pathway had many sections and branches in the East from Pennsylvania to North Carolina.  The Kentucky settlers began calling the pathway “The Warrior’s Path.”  Today one can see the path as it comes from the south to meet the Licking River.  The path is preserved in the Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park near Carlisle, Kentucky.  At nearby Tanner Station, a competition is held where rifles of the eighteenth century are employed.  The competition goal is to hit the target with the best accuracy. The participants are keeping alive the history of the Kentucky long rifle. Other paths from the Warrior’s Path era include Boone Trace, Skaggs Trace, the Unicoi turnpike, and the Wilderness Road. 

The past is the foundation for many of the terms and practices of the present in Kentucky.