Jim Plummer and Max Hammond explore the path along Tygart Creek. (submitted photo)
Olive Hill is one of the first towns named a Warriors Path Community. Trail Town Executive Director Jessie Oney accepted the designation from Warriors Path Executive Director Max Hammond. (submitted photo)
By: Charles Romans
Carter County Times
The path has existed for 12,500 years, Max Hammond said.
Hammond, the Executive Director of Warrior’s Path, elaborated. “It was, and is, a path that once stretched from Mobile, Alabama to the Great Lakes.”
The trail passes through a considerable amount of the state of Kentucky, Hammond said, from Cumberland Gap to the Ohio River at South Portsmouth.
“The path is so old that it wasn’t made by the buffalo, but by the megafauna,” Hammond explained. “The ground sloths, the mammoths, and the mastodons made the path. It was used by the Paleoamericans, the first people in what we now call North America. It was used as a hunting path,” Hammond continued. “But it was also used as a path of commerce that tied all the diverse people and tribes together.”
It was once believed that Kentucky was unpopulated when settlers found it, but evidence found along the Warrior’s Path disproves that notion, Hammond said.
“Kentucky was heavily populated about 1,000 years ago,” he said. “The population declined when diseases entered the area, but as recent as 1758 there was a large (native) village at South Portsmouth. It consisted of Shawnee, Mingo, Delaware, Lenape, and other tribes that traded first with the Spanish, then the French, and then with the English.”
Hammond said that as many as 1,500 Native Americans lived at the settlement in what would later become South Portsmouth.
“We know they lived there because we know the names of the people,” Hammond said. “It was a large trading hub right there on the banks of the Ohio River.”
At that point you could walk across the river into Ohio and up the Scioto River Valley to the Great Lakes, Hammond said.
“There was a large riffle there that wasn’t any more than knee high at that time. And there was even a large village around Grayson at that time,” he pointed out, tying the region together along the ancient route.
Hammond has been involved and has researched the history of the Warrior’s Path for years, and currently he is the Executive of the Warrior’s Path of Kentucky.
“We cross over 20 counties in Kentucky,” Hammond said. “We tie a lot of Kentucky’s original Trail Towns together, and we hope to obtain the designation as a National Historic Trail, and a National Historic Bike Route.”
“When we do that, the Warrior’s Path will once again become a path of commerce,” Hammond said. “And it will tie many of these isolated mountain towns together that are currently suffering from economic depression.”
Hammond said that appreciation of the past can be used to improve the future by stimulating the economies of the towns along the Warrior’s Path.
Travel along the Warrior’s Path is no longer a rustic path, Hammond said, because much of the ancient path has been paved over during the passage of time.
“Modern engineers can be a lot like the wooly mammoth and take the path of least resistance,” Hammond explained. “The National Bike Trail will be a paved trail, and the National Historic Trail will be paved for the most part. So, everyone will be able to enjoy this trail, and the concept is that by tying these towns together they will be able to drive from town to town and see what treasures each town has to offer,” Hammond said. “And the towns can build up their own infrastructures to reach the Path.”
Trail Town Olive Hill, for instance, will have horseback riding, hiking, and bicycle trails, Hammond pointed out. And these things will be able to take advantage of the city’s proximity to the Warrior’s Path. From there people would be able to drive to Jackson County, for instance, and take advantage of what is available there. By tying all the small communities together, Hammond said that there will always be new adventures for visitors to experience every day.
Points of interest such as restaurants and other local businesses will be highlighted on the warriorspath.org website, Hammond said. This will allow travelers to plan their days to fullest effect.
“We are designating Warrior’s Path Communities along the Path,” Hammond said. “Those communities will display a sign stating that they have been selected and approved as a Warrior’s Path Community.”
“It really is an economic driver that also celebrates the true Appalachian history,” Hammond added. “12,500 years of history; perhaps more. And it’s made for everyone to enjoy whether you are rich or poor.”
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
