In September 1780, patriot militia gathered at Sycamore Shoals on the Watauga River, then marched over the Blue Ridge Mountains and defeated the British at the Battle of Kings Mountain — a victory the record calls critical for the Patriot cause. The route they walked passed through what is now four states, and 200 years later that corridor was designated the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail, the first National Historic Trail in the eastern United States. The Great Cherokee War and Trading Path had already been moving people through this same corner of Tennessee long before any of that, and the Great Stage Road carried travelers — Andrew Jackson among them — through Kingsport well into the next century. This region didn't become significant because roads were built here. Roads were built here because the land already demanded movement, and the people who came through left enough behind to make it worth retracing.
