Near Tazewell in Tazewell County, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)

Fincastle Turnpike

Wilderness Road

— Virginia's Heritage Migration Route —

Fincastle Turnpike Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, June 18, 2023

1. Fincastle Turnpike Marker

Inscription. “The Wilderness Road” sums up the iconic meaning of the lives of Daniel Boone and the thousands of settlers who poured after him through the great gap into Kentucky. In its various forms as frontier trail, wagon road, stage route and antebellum turnpike, the road directed pilgrims and travelers to the West. Whatever your background, as the starting point for the settlement of the West, the Great Migration Route over the Cumberland Gap tells your story as an American.

Fincastle Turnpike is one of the six sections that comprise the Wilderness Road. The Price's Gap Turnpike and Cumberland Gap Road was authorized by the legislature in 1831, the same year as the James River and Kanawha Canal. It brought agricultural produce from Kentucky and southwest Virginia directly into Botetourt County for transportation by the canal into eastern Virginia, bypassing the traditional route of the Great Road and stimulating the development of towns along the way. The road became known as the Fincastle Turnpike at its western end.

Virginia Room at Tazewell County Public Library
Tazewell Historic District, 310 East Main Street, Tazewell, Virginia The Tazewell County Public Library's Virginia Room, located in the Tazewell Historic District, is intended to help visitors discover their family history in this region. The Virginia Room contains about 1500 volumes of published history, biography, records of the census, births, marriages, land transactions, tax assessments, wills, deaths, and cemeteries, newspapers, maps and gazetteers, as well as how-to guides to research.

Crab Orchard Museum and Pioneer Park/Fort Witten
3663 Crab Orchard Road, Tazewell, Virginia Crab Orchard Museum presents not only local history but a comprehensive overview of the Appalachian region, with important exhibits on early life, military history,

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and a natural history section documenting the animals of Southwest Virginia. The museum's exhibit of Native American artifacts displays the results of excavations at the nearby Crab Orchard site, a large Woodland village. Pioneer Park village includes log structures that have been reassembled to show what daily life was once like in western Virginia.

Wolf Creek Indian Village and Museum
6394 North Scenic Highway, Bastian, Virginia Between 1490 and 1530 AD, a small group of Native Americans settled along Wolf Creek in present-day Bland County. They build a circular palisaded village to house as many as 100 people. Excavation of the site in 1970 revealed 14 structures and a wealth of artifacts. The Wolf Creek Indian Village and Museum opened in 1998 to interpret the story of the region's pre-historic peoples, including a full recreation of the village.

Burke's Garden
Burke's Garden, Virginia This ten-mile wide bowl-shaped valley is filled with some of the most fertile farmland in the state. It is the highest mountain valley in Virginia and its extraordinary beauty can be seen from the Appalachian Trail or from State Route 623.

Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, June 18, 2023

2. Fincastle Turnpike Marker

It was first discovered in the 1740s By James Burke, while hunting in the area. Settlers of German origin took up land in the late eighteenth century. The Central Church and cemetery were established in the late 1820s. The cemetery includes numerous German-style grave markers dating from the 1830s. The present wood-frame church was built in 1875.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Agriculture • Education • Indigenous Peoples and Communities • Roads & Vehicles. A significant historical year for this entry is 1831.

Location. 37° 7.196′ N, 81° 34.448′ W. Marker is near Tazewell, Virginia, in Tazewell County. It is at the intersection of Crab Orchard Road (Business U.S. 19/460) and Trail of the Lonesome Pine (U.S. 19/460), on the right when traveling south on Crab Orchard Road. Marker is in front of Crab Orchard Museum. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 3663 Crab Orchard Rd, Tazewell VA 24651, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Southwest Virginia.

It is also in the American South,

specifically in the Upper South,

in Appalachia,

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and specifically in Southern Appalachia. Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the original Thirteen Colonies,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 3 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Thomas Whitten (a few steps from this marker); Big Crab Orchard or Witten’s Fort (within shouting distance of this marker); 250th Anniversary of the United States of America (within shouting distance of this marker); Fort Witten (within shouting distance of this marker); Pisgah United Methodist Church (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Indian-Settler Conflicts (approx. 1.8 miles away); Roark’s Gap Incident (approx. 2.7 miles away); Tazewell (approx. 2.7 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Tazewell.

Other markers no longer nearby. Big Crab Orchard Or Witten’s Fort (was within shouting distance of this marker but has been replaced with another marker now near it); a different marker also named Pisgah United Methodist Church (was about 400 feet away but has been replaced with another marker now near it).

Also see . . .
1. Crab Orchard Museum. The museum's homepage. (Submitted on July 16, 2023, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.)

2. Wolf Creek Indian Village. The complex's homepage. (Submitted on July 16, 2023, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.)

3. A Different World: Burke's Garden. Burke's Garden, in southwestern Virginia, pop. 300, lies in a beautiful, isolated, high-altitude valley with no post office, cell phone service or cable, and a harsh climate. As one resident says, "Something unpredictable could happen at any time." (Joe Tennis, Virginia Living magazine, posted May 6, 2010) (Submitted on July 16, 2023, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.)

Credits. This page was last revised on July 16, 2023. It was originally submitted on July 16, 2023, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. This page has been viewed 729 times since then and 85 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on July 16, 2023, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.