Key to the understanding of migration patterns in Colonial America is knowledge of the geography and topography of the regions. Human nature dictates that early settlers took the path of least resistance as they spread civilization. After establishing initial settlements along the Atlantic Coast, our early ancestors pushed up the local rivers in ever expanding arcs. For the first hundred years of colonial history (1609 to 1715), settlement was restricted to these coastal lowlands. It wasn't until 1716 that Governor Spotswood's Order of the Golden Horseshoe crossed the Blue Ridge and gazed on the verdant fields of the Valley of Virginia. [Map of the Great Wagon Road]
Geography dictates that most early roads to the West actually ran more north-south. The Appalachian Mountains formed a solid boundary from Pennsylvania to North Carolina. In North Carolina, where the Appalachian's were an easier barrier to overcome, the Cumberland Plateau just beyond those mountains, formed an additional barrier. The main route of migration was up the Valley of Virginia (southward), along parts of the Holston River, and into North and South Carolina east of the mountains. It was called "The Great Wagon Road" and began in Philadelphia, ran west through the middle of Pennsylvania and the towns of Lancaster, York, and Gettysburg. It then turned southwest through Maryland and into the Valley of Virginia, passing through Wincester, Staunton, Lexington, and Fincastle. At Fincastle, it turned south into North Carolina, passing the Moravian villages of Bethania, Bethabara and Salem, and the towns of Salisbury and Charlotte. It then continued on through South Carolina and ended at Augusta, Georgia.
. . .[N]ear present-day Roanoke, the Wilderness Road branched southwest toward the Tennessee Valley and Cumberland Gap. Dr. Thomas Walker of Albemarle County, Virginia, had discovered the Cumberland Gap in 1750, but its use was delayed for many years because of the ferocity of the Shawnee Indians and to a lesser extent, the Cherokee Indians. Traffic through the Cumberland Gap had increased substantially after treaties with the Cherokee and Shawnee Indians and the Gap saw considerable traffic by 1780. Traffic along a more southerly branch of that road to Nashville, Tennessee, also increased after the first settlement in 1780.
These were not the only paths to the West. A few went west over the Alleghenies near Pittsburgh, some traveled the Kanawha River in Virginia, some moved along the valleys in North and South Carolina. But, by far, the greatest movement was along the Great Wagon Road and the Wilderness Road well into the early 1800s.
Ferguson, Bob. "Flintlocks and Rifles." Personal Web Page. No Date. <http://www.cstone.net/~bobdf/migrations.html> 22 February 2004.
Shenandoah Co VA was a key crossroad in early westward migration. Lying along a natural path between the Blue Ridge and the Allegheny's, the Shenandoah River emptied north out of the Valley of Virginia into the Potomac River. In the early 1700s as European settlers expanded civilization westward, they followed this path south and west out of central Pennsylvania. In the vicinity of Winchester, Frederick Co VA, the road split. The original Indian path lead south and west to the Carolinas and Georgia. And, the new road led north and west into Ohio. It was at this junction where the Weaver Family is believed to have split. Some sons and father George continued south and west into Virginia, and son Michael and others migrating north and west into Ohio.