An Old Indian Road used by King Carter and Other Colonials
Genealogy Tips by Jeannette Holland Austin
The Colchester Road in Fairfax County began as an Indian Path and was developed about 1728 by King Carter and his sons, Robin and Charles. It began from Occoquan below the falls past the future sites of Paynes Church and Fairfax Court House all the way to Frying Pan Run. The Carter family believed that there was copper on certain of their recently acquired lands and this road was developed to bring the ore to tidewater. So later, it became known as the Ox Road and a year or so later joined the rolling road of Walter Griffin which ran westward across Little Rocky Run and eventually across Elk Lick and Bull Run, across the Carolina Road and so above the ford over Little River to the Blue Ridge road to Williams Gap. It was over this road that the youthful George Washington returned in the Spring of 1748 from his survey work with George William Fairfax of the lands of Lord Fairfax in the valley and thus first set foot in the present Loudoun (county); crossing the Blue Ridge at Williams Gap. They proceeded to the house of William West to be licensed by the West Ordinary. The Colchester Road continued to be a main thoroughfare up to about 1806 when the construction of Little River Turnpike diverted most of its travel and the new road with its branches became the principal system in southern Loudoun. Old Indian paths are of peculiar interest to genealogists because one can locate other trails on old maps in the time-period of colonial settlements in Virginia. A lot of roads on today’s maps were once “Indian Paths”. We can peruse the history of the natives in the region and acquire more clarification of the times of our ancestors.