Gist's Trace / Nemacolin's Path

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Introduction

The road known as Gist’s Trace, obtained it’s name from Christopher Gist (1706 – 1759). Gist was one of the first white explorers of the Ohio Country in what would become the United States, credited for providing Great Britain and her colonists with the first detailed description of the Ohio Country. He also accompanied George Washington on missions in the Ohio Country at the outset of the French and Indian War. By 1755 Gist owned land near the present city of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, which he called Gist's Plantation and began to build a town there.

To Thomas Cresap and his friend, the Indian Nemacolin, falls the honor of having first blazed this trail by removing some of its most difficult obstructions. As far as can be learned they did no more than this during 1749-50. Nemacolin seems to have had been in charge the physical labor of the road-making, while Cresap acted as surveyor and overseer.

Gist’s Trace, was sixty miles in length, commenced at the mouth of Wills Creek and traveled across the Laurel Mountains to the junction of Redstone Creek with the Monongahela River. Essentially this road formed a means of passage between the Potomac and Ohio rivers thus helping pioneer travel into western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. Gist’s Trace become more important and more deeply saturated with historic interest with every year that passed, and

finally as a part of the National Road (Pike) it was to

Map of Gist’s Trace

Click on the thumbnail map to view a full-sized image

finally as a part of the National Road (Pike) it was to take rank among the famous highways of the American migratory experience.

Gist's Trace, Nemacolin's Path, Washington's Road, Braddock's Road, the National Pike are some of the names which this route has borne at different times in American history. Thus it is scarcely necessary to adduce more evidence than these names give of its tremendous importance in the political and economic history of the United States.

Road Trip

If you have traced your 18^th or 19^th century ancestors to any of the counties listed below it is quite possible that they traveled to that location along this migration route. Therefore you may find additional relevant information about your ancestral lineages by taking the following road trip through these localities.

COUNTY (Road Trip Segment)

Allegany Co., MD (1)

Fayette Co., PA (2)

Garrett Co., MD (1)

Greene Co., PA (2)

Monongalia Co., WV (2)

Somerset Co., PA (1)

Washington Co., PA (2)

Genealogy Road Trip

This “Genealogy Road Trip” is divided into segments that require between 1 and 2 hours of driving time.

The entire 75 mile journey should take approximately 1.50 hours to drive at 40 miles per hour. Within each segment you will find links to resources* that will assist you in planning a successful and enjoyable experience. The following maps are designed to show a close-up view of the counties and communities along this migration route. Relevant county seats are designated with a, beginning and end points of each segment are noted with a and historical sites with a .

SEGMENT 1

Cumberland, MD

to Somerfield, PA

SEGMENT 2

Somerfield, PA to

Brownsville, PA

SEGMENT 3

Segment 1

Cumberland, MD

to Somerfield, PA

228149- 2

Driving Distance = 37 miles; Driving Time = approximately .75 hours

Click on the map to view a full-sized image

Use the following LINKS to find information about the counties and localities found along this segment of the Route.

General Profile

Genealogy & History Resources

Historical Sites

228149- 4

Segment 2

Somerfield, PA to

Brownsville, PA

228149- 2

Driving Distance = 35 miles; Driving Time = approximately .75 hours

Click on the map to view a full-sized image

Use the following LINKS to find information about the Counties and localities found along this segment of the Route.

General Profile

Genealogy & History Resources

Historical Sites

Internet Resources

The Google search engine

button and following web

sites may provide you

with additional information

to assist with your research

about this topic.

· American Migration Patterns

· Migration Routes, Roads & Trails

· Brethren Life: Migrations

· Trails West

· Historical U.S. roads and trails - Wikipedia

· U.S. Historical Maps - Perry-Castañeda Collection

· Early American Roads and Trails

· Frontier Trails: A Brief History

· MIGRATIONS.org

· ROOTS / MIGRATIONS

· American Migration Fact Sheets

· Map guide to American migration routes,1735-1815

· Migration Book Store

· Early Migration Routes

· The Overland Trail Links--Ancient Indian Trails

· American Westward Expansion

· Migration Message Boards – Ancestry.com

· The African-American Migration Experience

· Migration Trails – map of many U.S. trails

· Migration Information & Maps By Ethnic Group

· Gist’s Plantation

· Site 7 - Gist's Plantation

· Thomas Cresap - Wikipedia

· Christopher Gist - Ohio History Central

· Nemacolin's Path - Wikipedia

· Nemacolin Castle (Timeline of Events)

· ExplorePAHistory.com (Gist’s Plantation)

· Gist's Plantation- PA Historic Site

· Christopher Gist - Wikipedia

· Nemacolin's Path (Columbia Encyclopedia)

· History Of Nemacolin Castle

· Bowman's Castle - Wikipedia

Download a free 2-page Fact Sheet

about American migration routes

Family Historian's
Reference Library

The following Link will take you to our library of genealogy reference books. Here you will find books about historic American roads, trails, and paths. In addition, there are texts that pertain to ethnic and religion groups, history, geography as well as other books that will assist you with your research.

This Link will take you to our

collection of reference books.

Image Gallery

During our research we have collected images and photographs that are of general interest to a variety of historic American roads, trails and migration. Some of them are presented on this website because we believe they tend to provide the reader with additional information which may aid in the understanding of this topic as well as our ancestors past lives.

Gist's Plantation Marker on US 119 at Connellsville, PA

Use this LINK to see the “Image

Gallery” that pertain to this topic.

Free Image Search
help from Google

Use the power of Google™ to find more interesting images about this topic. This button will link you to the Google Images Search page. Enter the topic you are

searching in the box and click “Search Images”. At the “Images” display page you will see the image, as well as the website of which it is associated.

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-- This webpage was last updated on --

01 October 2012