Skaggs Trace, Ft. Sequoyah Indian Village, Kentucky
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PersonsMD
N 37° 14.545 W 084° 13.186
16S E 746612 N 4125387
A marker noting the ancient road or trace named for Henry Skaggs and early pioneer.
Waymark Code: WM734C
Location: Kentucky, United States
Date Posted: 08/25/2009
Views: 15
The marker text reads:
"This trail, from the Hazel Patch to Crab Orchard, crosses Rockcastle County. It was a widely used land route through Kentucky for several years and became part of the Wilderness Road. Daniel Boone crossed the Rockcastle River near here in 1775 in blazing Boone's Trace from Cumberland Gap to Boonesborough. See over. 1977 Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky Department of Transportation 1622"
"(Reverse) Skaggs Trace - This trace was named for Henry Skaggs, a Long Hunter. Many famous pioneers, including John Floyd, Benjamin Logan and William Whitley, traveled over it. On Oct. 21, 1861, the first Kentucky Civil War battle occurred near here at Camp Wildcat. This first Union victory took place in the Rockcastle Hills. Over.1977 Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky Department of Transportation 1622"
The following is sited from: (
visit link)
The Skagg's Trace was a hunters' trail leading from Flat Lick to the Dick's (now Dix River in Lincoln County. It was named for Henry or Richard Skaggs, who hunted in Kentucky as early as 1769. Skagg's Trace left the Warriors' Path at Flat Lick in Knox County, Crossed Stinking Creek, and headed northwest along the west branch of Turkey Creek, almost as U.S. 25E does today. It passed north of present-day Barbourville, westward along Poplar Branch of Richland Creek, then northward across several western branches of the Middle Fork. It crossed Robinson Creek, passed Raccoon Spring, and reached Laurel River at happy Hollow Branch. The old trace went through what is now the Levi Jackson SMe Park and followed the Little Laurel River northward, passing what is now London to the east. From the headwaters of the Little Laurel River, it went to the headwaters of Hazel Patch Creek, down the creek to the Rockcastic River, down that river to Skeggs Creek, and up Skeggs Creek to the headwaters. From there it crossed over the Little Negro Creek, a branch of Dick's River and went down Dick's River to Crab Orchard and Stanford. This road was extended through Harrodsburg to Louisville by 1779.
It is believed that more pioneer families used Skagg's Trace than Boone's Trace when journeying to Kentucky. See Robert L. Kincaid, The Wilderness Road (Middlesborougk KY., 1966); Neat Hammon, "Early Roads into Kentucky," Register 68 (April 1970):118-23. Neat 0. Hammon