Thoroughfare

The first three pictures were made while standing in a gully which is a former road bed. During the 1700's this trail was used to settle the southwestern frontier according to a history sheet I found near the grave marker in the bottom most picture.

This modern era marker designates the grave of Capt. Henry Francis, a Patriot militia member who fought against Tories who marched along this trail near Shallowford. The grave and marker are located at the top edge of this gully. This area is known as Battle Branch and marks the spot where a battle involving a militia of around 300 and 500 Tories occurred on October 14, 1780. In February 1781 General Cornwallis and 2500 British soldiers marched this trail in pursuit of General Green. I am paraphrasing this information from a history sheet I found near the grave which was prepared by a geocacher with the handle of "Revwar & Patriot".

My wife, six-year-old granddaughter, and I located this place after we obtained the coordinates from an Internet site called Geocaching. If you're interested in more information, go there and enter zip code 27055 and scroll to the cache called "1700's Interstate". A giant poplar tree is located within a hundred feet of this grave that is larger than the famous poplar in C. G. Hill Memorial Park in Pfafftown, North Carolina.

It was interesting to me to stand in this gully and realize this one time major thoroughfare, in small part, led to the modern era in which we thrive today.

Have a good week!