Cherokee Path
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The Cherokee Path (also Keowee path) was the primary route from Charleston to Columbia, South Carolina in Colonial America, connecting all of the Cherokee territories. The path was mapped in 1730 by George Hunter, the Surveyor-General of the Province of South Carolina. It ran 130 miles from Charlestown to the colonial settlement of Ninety Six, then to Fort Prince George and the Cherokee village of Keowee, the principal town of the Cherokee Lower settlements (in present day Oconee, Greenville, Pickens and Anderson counties).
From Keowee the path fanned out into the Unaka Mountains, usually following streams and valleys, to Clayton, Georgia and up to Franklin and Murphy in North Carolina (the Middle settlements) and across to the Cherokee towns in Tennessee (the Overhill settlements) and Fort Loudoun which had been constructed by South Carolina troops in 1756.
In the 17th century it was used by English and French fur traders, and later used as a military road during the American Revolution.
South Carolina State Highway 11 (the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway) traces some of the original path.
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