QUINN’S ROAD: This old road has been known by several names during its history. Originally it was called the “King’s Road” since it had been engineered in 1781 by the British army for moving troops and war equipment. At another time it was known as the Charleston Road since it connected Charleston, Camden and Winnsboro with forts on the frontier in western North Carolina. Later it was known as Quinn’s Road because Peter and Hugh Quinn maintained it from the North Carolina line through York County. Well into the twentieth century it was locally called the Rutherford Road, but in the 1980’s the county renamed a section of it Wilson Chapel Road.
“I have often been told that the road turning off from the Pinckney Road at the plantation of Mr. R. M. Carroll, about ten miles south of Yorkville, was laid out and constructed by the British engineers for the use of the British on their way from Blackstock and Winnsboro to Broad River and across into Spartanburg and Union Counties.” This statement, made in the early 900’s by Mr. John Hart, in a history of York, launched my search along the western York County countryside. The very significance of locating a road engineered by the British, for the sole purpose of military movements was too difficult to overlook.
The search began by studying the oldest existing maps of the area. A 1773 map showed only one road coming up for the south into the York County area came out of the old St. Matthews Parish. Running south to north, the road passed just north of Susybole Creek and crossed Turkey Creek on one of its northern branches. The road passed within four or five miles of the Bullock’s Creek Presbyterian Church and continued into North Carolina by way of Kings Mountain.
A map drawn two years later, in 1775, which plotted trading paths, showed one running north to south, crossing Susybole Creek, continuing up the west side of Turkey Creek to Kings Mountain. No doubt this was the same road showed on the 1773 map. This map showed the road intersecting with another path leading from the Cherokee villages, west of the Broad River, to the Catawbas. This path was known as “The Cherokee Path to the Catawbas”. Generally speaking, this path followed the course of the present-day Highway 322. Originally, this road ran past the Bullock’s Creek Presbyterian Church Cemetery, crossed preset-day Highway 49 (Love’s Ford Road), intersected with the Pinckneyville-Yorkville Road (Catawba Path to the Lower Cherokees) about a half mile to the west of the church, then crossed the Broad River at the mouth of Bullock’s Creek at Hamilton’s Ford. Incidentally, this ford was used by Colonel Ban Tarleton when he fled the battlefield at Cowpens and went searching for General Cornwallis who was camped on Turkey Creek.
The last map to be considered was a map of South Carolina drawn in 1796. This map shows only one road in the York County area running east and west–the Cherokee Path to the Catawba villages, which crossed just above the confluence of the Broad and Pacolet Rivers. This path intersected with two roads running north to south. One ran across the Catawba River, crossed Allison Creek and continued into the area of Hill’s Iron Works. The other road, further west, ran from Winnsboro (the same general area of the other road) west of Hill’s Iron Works and intersected with the Cherokee Path just north of Turkey Creek.
In order to cover all avenues of research for the road engineered by the British, the origins of all roads in the area had to be researched. Obviously, the origins of the old Pinckneyville-Yorkville Road was involved in the search. Mr. Sam Thomas of the York County Heritage Center pointed out the existence of another ancient Indian trail on a 1775 map. This trail, the “Catawba Paths to the Lower Cherokees” traveled east to west from the Catawba River, turned southward where York was later established, crossed the Broad River just below the Pacolet River (near where Pinckneyville would later be established) and continued on into the Twenty-Eight Mile branch in the Spartanburg and Greenville County area. It seems that this trail would have been the same as the road that passed immediately to the west of Bullock’s Creek Church and predated the Pinckneyville-Yorkville Road. It now appears that the community of Bullock’s Creek and the Church was established at the crossing of the Cherokee Path to the Catawbas and the Catawba Path to the Lower Cherokee Villages.
Returning now to the statement by Mr. Hart concerning the road engineered by the British. The two operative phrases of Mr. Hart’s statement are: (l) the road was at the plantation of R. M. Carroll and (2) it turned off the Pinckney Road. The only place that meets this criteria is at the intersection of present-day Highway 49 and Wilson Chapel Road at the Blairsville community. R. M. Carroll owned 127 acres in the Blairsville Community and was bounded at one point by Quinn’s Road. This road, a main thoroughfare at the time of the Revolution, connected Winnsboro and the low-country to the up-country and Rutherfordton, North Carolina. Coming northward from Chester, South Carolina, Quinn’s Road intersected with the Pinckney Road at the home of John Blair. At that point, the traveler would have had to turn north on to Pinckney Road and proceed for about one mile, then turn off the Pinckney Road and back on to Quinn’s Road. It then proceeded northward to the present-day site of Hickory Grove, Blacksburg (most particularly at the base of Whitaker Mountain) and then into North Carolina.
It must be understood that none of the road names or towns existed at the time of the American Revolution–even the John Blair house was not built for another seventy years. Situated on the road was the William Hillhouse home and the home of John Dickey, on present-day of Wilson Chapel Road. Certainly there were other homes, but we are certain only of these two.
Exhausting all other research, we conclude that the road built by British engineers would have been the northern leg of Quinn’s Road which is presently called Wilson Chapel Road. This road virtually runs the course of the original, crossing Bullock’s Creek at what is locally known as the “Kell Bridge” and continues on to Hickory Heights. It joins Sawmill Road at a spot once called “Dye Town”. Sawmill Road turns sharply to intersect with Highway 211, but Quinn’s Road ran straight by the Hicks Moss home, then just south of Wylie Avenue, then connecting to Wylie Avenue near the town block of Hickory Grove.
The plantation of Captain William Kerr was on Quinn’s Road near the present-day town of Hickory Grove at the time of Cornwallis march into North Carolina in January of 1780. It is told that an advanced party of Cornwallis’s troops arrived unexpectedly at the Kerr plantation, finding the newly commissioned captain sitting at the family table. He made his escape but the troops sacked the plantation taking all horses and cattle and burned everything but the house. Like many after the Revolution, Kerr moved from York County and settled in Benton County, Alabama where he died in 1835.
Quinn’s Road continued on northward to Smyrna, crossed Kings Creek near Highway 5, passed Hardin’s Place (Hanging Tree Place) and then on to the springs at the base of Whitaker Mountain near Blacksburg. Crossing into North Carolina, it continued on to Rutherfordton. Near Whitaker Mountain, a road turned west and crossed the Broad River at Cherokee Ford; this would have placed the British in the Iron Ore District, Cowpens, and other points in Spartanburg and northern Union County–the purpose of the road.
Whitaker Mountain was an important stop-over in the early days of this nation. At the foot of the mountain were Lithia springs and served as a watering place for travelers and their stock. The springs contained natural salts which attracted both animals and Indians. Tradition has it that a great battle between the Cherokees and Catawbas took place here prior to the White man’s arrival. Both Tories and Patriots utilized the springs and the mountain which afforded observation advantages of the road. The Lincolnton Road passed on the east side of the mountain and crossed Quinn’s Road and Broad River at the ford.
Quinn’s Road was constantly used by the British during the Revolution, since it connected the lower part of South Carolina and Winnsboro with Tryon County, North Carolina. General Cornwallis traveled this route as he brought his troops up from Winnsboro to intercept General Morgan’s retreat into North Carolina. He wrote to Colonel Ban Tarleton
Bull Run, Jan’y 14, 1780 10 P.M. Dear Tarleton, I Rec’d yesterday morning your letter….I shall march tomorrow to the head of Sandy River and the next day to Hillhouse near Bullocks Creek meeting house….Because of the route of General Cornwallis into North Carolina, we are lead to that the road turned slightly to the northwest, running through present-day Blacksburg. A few miles northwest of Whitaker mountain was Buffalo Baptist Church and the home of its’ pastor, Reverend Joseph Camp. Though Camp was a non-combatant, Cornwallis had him arrested to seek information on the movements of Morgan. Unsuccessful, he was set free and Cornwallis and his troops continued on with surrender on the horizon.
Quinn’s Road derived its name from Hugh Quinn; one of York County’s first road commissioners and descendant of Camps nearest neighbor. York County was formed in 1785; within a year, during the April term of the York County Court. Abraham Smith, Hugh Quinn, and Captain James Thompson were appointed commissioners to lay out and mark a road from “Mr. Hugh Quinn’s to Hillhouses’s ford on Turkey Creek.”
This information was provided by author and historian, J.L. West for reprint in R&R – 2014
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