As one of the earliest wagon roads over the rugged Cumberland Plateau, the  Walton Road tells an important story of frontier settlement and the challenges of migration across the wilderness, and the forging of a national identity.

 

 

 The Walton Road opened in 1801 and named after its builder, Revolutionary War veteran, Captain William Walton, is one of the most historic pioneer roads in Tennessee. Linking Fort Southwest Point at the confluence of the Clinch and Tennessee Rivers near present-day Kingston in Roane County, with the Middle and Upper Cumberland settlements of Nashville and points east, the Walton Road crossed the Cumberland Plateau to the confluence of the CaneyFork and Cumberland Rivers near present-day Carthage, Smith County.

 

 

 

 

Walton Road closely followed the path of the Cumberland Trace, or Tollunteeskee’s Trail, named after a Cherokee chief whose village was near the site of modern Rockwood. The route of the Walton Road has been used for millennia, and parts of it are now incorporated into U.S. Highway 70, and Interstate 40, but sections of the original road can still be seen in isolated areas of the Cumberland Plateau and Eastern Highland Rim.

 

The Walton Road Scenic Byway project is part of a regional, ongoing effort to preserve, promote, and protect the cultural and natural resources of the Upper Cumberland and Cumberland Plateau region, and to develop the area as an eco and heritage tourism destination. The counties involved in the project are Cumberland, Putnam, Roane, and Smith.

 

For more information about the Walton Road Scenic Byway project, contact:

Randal Williams

Director, Cultural Resources Management

Upper Cumberland Development District

Cookeville, Tennessee

931-432-4111

rwilliams@ucdd.org

www.ucdd.org