A Historical Account of the Road that Ran Between Nashville, in Davidson County, and Charlotte, in Dickson County, known as "The Nashville - Charlotte Road", "The Charlotte Road" or "The Charlotte Pike"
This historical account of The Charlotte Road will include several crucial subjects; all related to the narrative of this important early Middle Tennessee road. A comprehensive, complete history of the road cannot be told satisfactorily without covering a few key topics and details that are often neglected or all together overlooked in the existing material that has been published and made available to researchers regarding the history of the road. It is also necessary to include the stories of certain individuals who would eventually play a significant role in the history and evolution of the road, including one local South Cheatham County resident in particular, who ironically was born very close to year that the road is said to have been officially completed, sometime between 1804 and 1806, and who would eventually decades later actually take charge of the road along a lengthy section stretching westward from Western Davidson County to a couple of miles east of modern day Shacklett in Southern Cheatham County.
- Some of the History of the Native Americans to first inhabit what would eventually become South Cheatham County, in particular a description of the Indians who inhabited the this area from the mid 900's AD to sometime around the mid 1400's, known as the Mississippian Culture (AKA Mound Builders) who built the major Native American cities centered at Mound Bottom, which was connected to another major city only a couple of miles to its south known as The Pack Site. When the Charlotte Road was constructed, it was built to pass directly in between these two major archeological sites. References to the Charlotte Road are mentioned in John Haywood's 1823 book "The Aboriginal & Natural History of Tennessee, a few of which are included in this section of the post
- A history of Dog Creek, located in the modern-day community of Shacklett in South Cheatham County, and how its history is closely linked to that of The Charlotte Road
Before There Was a Road / Glover's Trace
The following information on early roads in Middle Tennessee comes from a paper titled "Tennessee’s Indigenous Geography" written by Zachary Keith (Middle Tennessee State University July 2020) A link to the entire paper will be given below.
"When waterways failed to provide a quick or direct enough route, individuals were forced to travel over land. Presently interstate highways host the majority of overland automobile traffic. These tend to follow older roads, as they were generally the easiest and most direct routes between two points. The great roads Tennesseans traversed in the 18th and 19th centuries include the Virginia Road in East Tennessee; Boone’s Trace through the Cumberland Gap; the Emory Road connecting Knoxville and Nashville; the Natchez Trace between Nashville and Natchez, Mississippi (touching the Cumberland, Tennessee, and Mississippi Rivers); the federal road connecting Nashville and Chattanooga; and Charlotte Pike (earlier called Glover’s Trace) extending westward from Nashville toward the Tennessee River. All five of these roads and their later iterations on which we still drive today were already in place at the time of white settlement. Most may have begun as buffalo and large game trails until Native groups carved them out of wilderness hundreds or thousands of years before European colonization and used them for travel, trading, and raiding… Glover’s Trace, an early path west from Nashville overlapped the “Lower Harpeth and West Tennessee Trail.” Native groups most likely used this path once again for trading, hunting, or warring between Middle Tennessee and West Tennessee with a more direct route to the Mississippi River."
From - https://jewlscholar.mtsu.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/26a5d9b8-be8f-45fd-b998-bfda94203b9b/content
John Russell's 1794 "Map of the state of Kentucky : with the adjoining territories"
“The western spur of the Natchez Trace, also called the
Glover’s Trace or the Old Notchey, was an alternative West Tennessee route of
the main trace that went from Natchez, Mississippi, through Middle Tennessee to
Nashville. This western spur went through Henderson County and ended at a spot
in West Tennessee across the river from the New Johnsonville area. In those
days, there was a place to cross and a ferry at a spot called Reynoldsburg.
The route was used at least twice by troops raised by Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812 to return home and was federally surveyed by a group in 1816, who widened the Native American trail, and placed mile markers along the route.”
Link to the website where this information was obtained - https://www.lexingtonprogress.com/2020/12/02/natchez-state-trace-park-museum/
According to Cassandra Carr Cooper, Vice Regent of the Benton County, TN chapter of DAR, the roads name was "derived from an important early route laid out between Nashville and the Western District of Tennessee in 1797, by William Glover, a Native American whose mother was Chickasaw."
James Robertson -
(Below: Image of the original February 1793 State of North Carolina land grant to James Robertson, assignee of Mary Campbell, heir of James Campbell, a soldier in the Continental Army. This land was located on Barton's Creek in what would later become Dickson County, where Robertson in 1793 first erected the Cumberland Furnace Iron Works. As Robertson's home was located just west of Nashville at the time, there was no doubt a crude road or series of roads that led west out of Nashville, through the wilderness that lie between Nashville and these early settlements some 40 miles to the west of Nashville. It is likely that by as early as the 1780's, Robertson had cut the first crude path of the road that would become the Nashville - Charlotte Road, which is said to have officially been completed sometime between 1804 and 1806.)
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The image above shows the 1793 Original Land Grant to James Robertson, located on Barton's Creek in what would later become Dickson County in 1803. This is the tract of land that Robertson erected the Cumberland Furnace Iron Works in 1793, one of Middle Tennessee's first iron forges to operate.
The following information comes directly from the grant itself. (An image of the grant can be found below)
Details - State of North Carolina Land Grant
NARRATIVE: James Robertson, Assignee of Mary Campbell, Heir of James Campbell (Military Warrant No. 1274) was issued 640 acres of land on 23 Feb 1793 in TN Tennessee County, located on the "South side of Cumberland River on West fork of Bartons Creek". This was recorded in Land Patent Book 76 page 307 as TN Tennessee County Grant # 1590. The original request for this land was entered on 28 Oct 1784. It took 8 years and 4 months to issue the grant.
Text of the grant:
"Issued 23 Feb 1793 for 640 acres "S. side of Cumberland River on West fork of Bartons Creek"
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No 1590 Know ye that we have granted unto James Robertson
assignee of James Campbell a private in the Continental line of this State six
hundred and forty acres of land in our County of Tennessee on the south side of
Cumberland river on the west fork of Bartons creek beginning at an elm and
hickory on the bank of the creek on William Blount’s west boundary line runs west
three hundred and twenty poles to two black gums and hickory thence south three
hundred and twenty poles to a Sugartree on the bank of the creek thence east
three hundred and twenty poles to a stake thence north three hundred and twenty
poles to the beginning To hold to the said James Robertson his heirs and assignees
forever dated the 23rd day of February 1793 J Glasgow (North Carolina Secretary of State) Richard Dobbs Spaight (Governor of North Carolina from December 1792 to November 1795) |
"State of North Carolina
No 1602 Know ye that we have granted unto Alexander Green
and James Robertson assignees of the heir of Thomas Valentine, a private in the
Continental line of…State six hundred and forty acres of land in one County of
Davidson on the west side of Harpeth river opposite the mouth of Dog Creek
beginning at an ash and sycamore on the bank of Harpeth about half a mile below
the mouth of Turnbulls creek runs down said river according to its courses
seven hundred and twenty poles to an elm on John and Thomas Blount’s south
boundary, thence west two hundred and twelve poles to a red oak, their south
west corner, thence south fourteen poles to a red oak thence west ninety nine
poles to the beginning, to hold to the said Alexander Green, James Robertson
their heirs and assignees dated the 23rd day of February 1793
James Glasgow Secretary"
Above: The old roadbed of the Nashville - Charlotte Road can still clearly be seen, as shown in this video that I shot in 2016. The roadbed seen in the video was once part of the Turnpike that was located in the area about a mile west of what is today, the intersection of Old Charlotte Pike and Sam's Creek Road, and about one and a half miles east of where Dog Creek Road dead ends today.
The Building of the Road
By the time Robertson first began cutting the path that the Charlotte Road would take, he was already nearing 60 years old. After he had completed the construction of this road sometime between 1800 - 1804, he named it after his wife, Charlotte Reeves Robertson, to whom he had been married since 1768. Charlotte, the town seat of Dickson County, was also named after Mrs. Robertson.
Below is the oldest map I have been able to find that depicts what I believe to be the Nashville - Charlotte Road. This map was made in 1805.
The wilderness through which the road was cut passed directly through lands that had previously been inhabited by various Native American peoples, the first of which having arrived here some 10,000 - 12,000 years ago, and possibly even 13,000 to 14,000 years ago. The area remained continuously inhabited by various Native American societies and cultures for many thousands of years, up until it was suddenly abandoned and completely evacuated by the last of the Native Americans to occupy the land, happening sometime around the late 14th to mid 15th century.
The last group of Native Americans who occupied the area were people belonging to The Middle Cumberland Mississippian culture, also known as The Mound Builders. These were the people who had built the major cities and great Mounds at Mound Bottom and the neighboring Pack Site, through which the Charlotte Road passed directly in between, the location being in the vicinity of the modern-day community of Shacklett on Highway 70.
The Native American often known as the "Mound Builders" had consistently occupied the area of Southern Cheatham County that includes both the Mound Bottom & Pack Sites, beginning sometime around the year 950 AD. Their occupation of these sites lasted approximately 500 years or so, up until sometime around 1450 AD. For reasons still unknown, beginning sometime around 1400 AD, these people suddenly and rapidly abandoned their lands and densely populated sites in Middle Tennessee, including Mound Bottom and surrounding sites, within a time span of only a few decades.
Above: Aerial view of Mound Bottom
The leading theories as to why this mass evacuation occurred in such a short amount of time, include the following reasons, just to name a few. 1) Large scale, devastating & widespread warfare or other conflicts that were fought between neighboring tribes over the control of territory in the Middle Tennessee area 2) Widespread disease that the Native population had no immunity to 3) The possibility that the land eventually became unusable and unsuitable for maintaining the population, likely as the result of the overuse/misuse of farm lands, leading to the inability to grow the amount of crops needed to sustain the population 4) The depletion of natural resources, including a dramatic drop in the population, or even the complete extinction of several species of native wild game, including bison, deer, cougars and black bears. These animals had long been a primary food source that the Natives were dependent on for survival 5) And lastly, possibly even for religious or other related reasons.
Middle Tennessee remained permanently unoccupied by Native Americans for at least 200 - 300 years. The territory that would one day become Middle Tennessee was used only as hunting grounds by small roaming parties of Indians from various tribes. These were the Indians the first white explorers to pass through the area encountered in the early - mid 1700's. When asked, the Indians the whites first made contact with didn't know anything about the great mounds in the area or who the people were who had built them hundreds of years earlier. The mounds in this country, including Mound Bottom, and the people who had built them, were as much of a mystery to these Indians as they were to the first white settlers.
In 1823, the book "The Natural & Aboriginal History of Tennessee" was published, authored by John "Judge" Haywood, who was "an American jurist and historian known as the Father of Tennessee History." His book was, in part, an attempt to prove that the native tribes of Tennessee were descendants of ancient Hebrews, a popular idea among European Americans in the early 19th century." (Wikipedia)
Of the Sun and Moon painted upon rocks -
"About two miles below the road, which crosses Harpeth River, from Nashville to Charlotte, is a bend of the river…About six miles from it is a large rock,, on the side of the river, with a perpendicular face of 70 or 80 feet altitude. On it below the top some distance, and on the side, are painted the sun and moon in yellow colours, which have not faded since the white people first knew it. The figure of the sun is six feet in diameter: The figure of the moon, is of the old moon…The painting on Big Harpeth, before spoken of, is more than 80 feet from the water, and 30 or 40 below the summit…The painting is neatly executed, and was performed at an immense hazard of the operator. It must have been for a sacred purpose, and as an object of adoration. What other motive was capable of inciting to a work so perilous, laborious and expensive, as those paintings must have been? By what means (was the skilled artist) let down, and placed near enough to operate? And for what reward did he undertake so dangerous a work?” (pages 113 – 115)
Above: These are two of the best photographs ever taken of Paint Rock. Thanks to the latest drone technology many hard-to-reach archeological sites are now easily accessible via drone.
He began the section of his book in which he covers Mound Bottom by writing "On the Big Harpeth river, in a bend of the river, below the road which crosses near the mouth of Dog creek, from Nashville to Charlotte, is a square mound, 47 by 47 at the base, twenty-five feet high, and two others in a row with it, of inferior size, from 5 to 10 feet high...The top of this mound was ascended to from the west, where the height is not more than 5 or 6 feet. The platform is 60 feet over. Two large gateways are in the eastern wall. From the most southwardly of them, a road leads to the river and across it in a northwardly direction, near the mouth of Dog creek." (page 129)
He goes on to say that several other ancient roads and paths that were used by the mound builders to travel between their cities were still traceable, including another description of the road that ran from the Mound Bottom complex to the mouth of Dog Creek, where the Charlotte Road crossed the Harpeth. Haywood noted that this road was traceable for miles eastward following a course alongside Dog Creek in the direction of Nashville.
Haywood further states that he could make out the path of another road "leading to the mouth of Dog creek, and traceable for several miles beyond it....Higher up the river, and within a mile of the above-described enclosures, and above the road leading by the mouth of Dog creek to Charlotte, is another bend of the river, so formed as to leave a bend and bottom on the north or opposite side of the river..." (page 130)
Haywood also wrote in the same chapter of his book, that along the old road that was traceable and led up Dog Creek for miles eastward in the direction of Nashville, an ancient Native American grave had been discovered, and that near to this grave, the grave of a dog had also been discovered. He writes, "On the side of the road leading from Nashville to Charlotte, one mile east of Big Harpeth, near the lower part of Mr. Lake's plantation, was a grave, with rocks set up at the feet and head, and containing the bones of a dog. The bones in another grave near it, were human". (page 192)
For a dog to be buried alongside his Native American human master in such fashion, it must have been a dog held in a much higher regard and deserving of even more respect than the average canine; one that must have been much cared for and looked after in order to deserve such an honorable burial.
About Haywood's book -
Author: John Haywood (1762-1826), a judge and one of
Tennessee's first historians.
Publication Date: 1823.
Purpose: To document the natural history and the history and
origins of Native American peoples in Tennessee before the first white
settlements in 1768.
Content:
Descriptions of the natural landscape and antiquities. Detailed account of Native American tribes, including the Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Natchez, drawing parallels with ancient civilizations in Mexico, India, and Peru.
Analysis of relics, such as skeletons, crania, and
fortifications, which Haywood appears to have personally inspected.
Historical Significance: The book is considered a
foundational text in Tennessee history and is now a rare and valuable
historical document.
“Haywood's substantial account of the natural and aboriginal
history of Tennessee. A judge in Davidson County and one of the pioneering
historians of Tennessee, Haywood wrote the companion volume entitled The Civil
and Political History of the State of Tennessee, From Its Earliest Settlement
Up to the Year 1796, also published in 1823. In addition to providing much
information about the Indians of Tennessee, the author attempts to demonstrate
the relationship of Native Americans to the Caucasian race. He also includes
details regarding Mexicans, Hindus, Persians, Peruvians, Cherokees, Chickasaws,
and Natchez Indians. "In this book, now exceedingly rare and highly
prized, the author has brought together a very large number of curious facts,
relating to the origin and character of the natives of his State, prior to the
settlement by the whites. He does not favor the hypothesis of great antiquity
in the Indian nations of America, and believes in their common origin with the
Caucasian race. He describes with great minuteness and care the relics of the
race which once inhabited the territory, its utensils, skeletons, crania, and
fortifications, most of which he appears to have personally inspected" -
Field.
This is one of the most difficult Tennessee books to
acquire, especially in unsophisticated condition.
The original first edition of this book is priced as high as $15,0000.00 on one website specializing in rare antique books. - https://www.williamreesecompany.com/the-natural-and-aboriginal-history-of-tennessee-up-to-the-first-settlements-therein-by-the-white-people-in-the-year-1768-56604.html
Haywood's complete 1823 book, "The Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee Up To The First Settlements Therin By The White People, In The Year 1768" can be read by clicking on the following link - https://archive.org/details/naturalaborigina00hayw
The History of Dog Creek & Its Link to The Charlotte Road
As long ago as the mid 1800's, the first story that would eventually become the leading theory as to how Dog Creek got its name, began to spread by word of mouth among some lifelong Dog Creek residents. As the story goes, the creek got its name because of a run in between a black bear and a dog, which resulted in the bear killing the dog. If this story has any truth to it, the dog more than likely belonged to one of the first land surveyors who was passing through the area, as the fight is said to have taken place sometime in the 1780's, before there were any permanent settlers in the Dog Creek area. The location along the creek where the supposed fight took place has never been established.
At the time, the creek had yet to be named, but it soon became known as the creek where the dog was killed by a bear. Whether or not this is the true story as to how Dog Creek got its name, the person who named it was probably one of the first people to permanently settle along the creek, in the first couple of years of the 1790's.
Several years ago, I uncovered the best and most reliable piece of evidence I have yet to find that best supports this story. It is the oldest document to mention the creek, and the oldest document I have found that uses the title "Dog Creek" to label it: a land grant dated February 23, 1793, issued by the State of North Carolina to two men—Alexander Green and none other than James Robertson himself. Both Green and Robertson were assignees of a man named Thomas Valentine. (See the photo section below for a photo of this land grant.)
In addition to this, in Sarah Foster Kelley's 1987 book, "West Nashville, it's People and Environs", in the chapter in which Kelley discusses the history and genealogy of the families to settle along the Charlotte Turnpike, from West Nashville all the way to Shacklett in Southern Cheatham County, the account of the run in between a bear and a dog is also given as the reason the creek was named Dog Creek. In the section in which Kelley tells of the history of Shacklett, she says "A few miles northwest of Kingston Springs on the present Highway Seventy, North, is the crossing of the Big Harpeth River. A road which leads north connects the Dog Creek Community, also known as Shacklett, named for Doctor Shacklett, and the Narrows of Harpeth settlement. It has been said that a bear killed a dog on a branch which was later called Dog Creek." (page 142-43)
This is where the Charlotte Turnpike crossed Dog Creek, about one hundred yards east of its mouth.
Above: This map shows the location where the Charlotte Road crossed Dog Creek about 100 yards east of the mouth of the creek. Also shown on this map are the paths of Dog Creek (traced in light blue), and the original path of the Charlotte Road (dark blue.)
Going back to Haywood's account of the discovery of the gravesite of the Native American and his canine companion - If not for the many accounts of the story of the unfortunate dog who lost his life somewhere along the creek in a battle against a black bear (a species of animal that was still a common sight here and that still inhabited the woods of Middle Tennessee up until the early - mid 1800's) one might be inclined to believe the creek was so named because of the discovery of the gravesite beside the creek that contained the remains of the ancient Native American and his dog.
The Charlotte Pike & The US Mail
Beginning not long after the road had been completed and the town of Charlotte was established as the seat of the new County of Dickson in 1804, the road was already being used as a route to carry the United States Mail between Nashville, Charlotte, and areas further to the west in Middle Tennessee. It continued to serve as an official United States Mail route from 1806 all the way up until sometime in the 1890's, when the road ceased existing as a turnpike road after the Nashville - Charlotte Turnpike Company was sold to a private individual, which is when the road first became a toll free road. Below, mail schedule is detailed in a newspaper announcement.
Below - By 1839, the mail was running three times a week between Nashville and Charlotte. This schedule of the mail is detailed in the Nashville newspaper announcement below, dated April 29, 1830.
The Nashville and Charlotte Turnpike Company - The Stagecoach Years
The following is an excerpt from the 1890 book, “A History
of Nashville Tennessee” by H.W. Crew, relating to the creation of turnpike
companies and the building of roadways and bridges throughout Davidson County.
“The Nashville and Charlotte Turnpike Company was chartered somewhere between 1835 and 1840, for the purpose of constructing a turnpike from Nashville towards Charlotte. The road as constructed (as of 1890) is ten miles long, and cost about $60,000.00. It was a very important road previous to the building of the railroads, and it was no uncommon thing to see twenty teams at a time traveling on this pike, as it was the main road leading to Memphis. Since the railroads have come in, this pike has become a mere local road. In 1880 it was purchased very cheaply by A.L. Demoss (who lived in the vicinity of Newsom’s Station). It was sold by him in 1887 to Dr. H.M. Pierce, who afterward turned it over to the West Nashville Land Company, it’s present (as of 1890) proprietors." (https://nashvillehistory.blogspot.com/2014/07/turnpikes-and-bridges-in-davidson.html?m=1#:~:text=The%20Nashville%20and%20Charlotte%20Turnpike,him%20in%201887%20to%20Dr)
