What an interesting article! Thank you for putting it together.
Another relatively easy route into northeast Alabama was available to Tennesseans who settled in the Sequatchie Valley, about 20 miles west of the Tennessee River Valley and Chattanooga. My own ancestors lived in the valley on bounty land received for service in the Revolutionary War. These settlers lived in the counties of (north to south) Bledsoe, Sequatchie, and Marion. The 150-mile long and narrow Sequatchie Valley is part of the Cumberland Plateau. The Sequatchie River flows south-southwest from the southern part of Cumberland County, Tenn., through the counties named, to (today) a Tennessee River impoundment, Lake Guntersville. South of Guntersville, Ala., the name of the valley changes to Browns Valley, drained by Browns Creek. What's notable is how straight the valley is. Relocating from its northern parts south into Alabama, settlers must have felt they were merely following a continuation of the same geological feature, irrespective of any change in political boundaries.
Thanks so much for the additional information! Jeannette
What an interesting article! Thank you for putting it together.
Another relatively easy route into northeast Alabama was available to Tennesseans who settled in the Sequatchie Valley, about 20 miles west of the Tennessee River Valley and Chattanooga. My own ancestors lived in the valley on bounty land received for service in the Revolutionary War. These settlers lived in the counties of (north to south) Bledsoe, Sequatchie, and Marion. The 150-mile long and narrow Sequatchie Valley is part of the Cumberland Plateau. The Sequatchie River flows south-southwest from the southern part of Cumberland County, Tenn., through the counties named, to (today) a Tennessee River impoundment, Lake Guntersville. South of Guntersville, Ala., the name of the valley changes to Browns Valley, drained by Browns Creek. What's notable is how straight the valley is. Relocating from its northern parts south into Alabama, settlers must have felt they were merely following a continuation of the same geological feature, irrespective of any change in political boundaries.