The Trading Path
Concord, Cabarrus County, North Carolina
Marker Inscription
Trading Path. Colonial trading route started in 17th century; extended from southern Va. to land of Catawba & Waxhaw Indians in N.C. Passed near this spot.
Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The Story
The Trading Path was a colonial overland route that took shape in the 1600s, carrying traders and goods south from the Virginia settlements toward the Catawba and Waxhaw peoples of the Carolina Piedmont. Much of it followed far older Indigenous trails. This artery of deerskins, cloth, and manufactured wares helped open the backcountry to European settlement, and it passed near this spot.
Why it matters
The Trading Path knit together Native nations and colonial markets, and its course guided the settlement of the Carolina Piedmont for generations.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
The Trading Path
Charlotte, NC
The Trading Path, dating from the 1600s, linked Petersburg, Virginia, to the Catawba people of the Carolina Piedmont. Along it moved traders, packhorses, and the goods that bound Native nations to distant colonial markets. Following routes long used by Indigenous travelers, the path passed nearby and helped funnel settlers into the region.
The Trading Path
Waxhaw, NC
Beginning in the seventeenth century, the Trading Path ran from Petersburg, Virginia, deep into the Carolina backcountry to reach the Waxhaw people. Traders drove packhorses along the route, exchanging European goods for deerskins and building the earliest commercial ties between colony and Native nations. The path passed nearby, threading through country that would soon fill with settlers.
Red Hill
Concord, NC
Red Hill was the home and tavern of John and Martin Pheifer, a hospitable stop in the Cabarrus County backcountry where travelers of note broke their journeys. Its guests reportedly included royal Governor William Tryon and, later, President George Washington during his 1791 Southern Tour. Taverns like Red Hill were the inns, courtrooms, and news exchanges of their day.
Washington's Southern Tour
Salisbury, NC
In the spring of 1791, President George Washington set out on a grand tour of the southern states, determined to see the young nation for himself and to knit its scattered communities to the new federal government. On May 30â31 he stopped at Salisbury, then a bustling crossroads town of the Carolina backcountry. Local citizens turned out to greet the first president as he made his careful, unifying circuit through the region.