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Hiking Through History *ONLINE ONLY*

September 2023

By Victor Block

People who wish to relive those pioneer days may follow sections of the storied Oregon Trail, walking where history was made. There’s also a long list of other routes throughout the country where chapters of the past come alive for those who follow them.

Some may be close to where you live, while others await discovery during trips further away. Whatever their location, they all offer opportunities to combine a bit of exercise with a stroll down memory lane. Even a short hike can provide an immersion in a part of the past. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson dispatched Army Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark on an expedition to survey land acquired in the Louisiana Purchase, and to continue on to the Pacific Northwest. The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail recalls that journey and invites those who wish to do so to follow in the two men’s footsteps.

The route stretches some 4,900 miles from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Oregon, passing through 16 states along the way.

Daniel Boone was an earlier American hero who also helped to pave the way for settlement of largely overlooked areas. In the 1700s, he passed through what now comprises the Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, which straddles the borders between Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia.

Settlers followed in his path during their trek to those states and beyond. Their stories are recounted at the park which is perched in the Cumberland Gap, a natural break in the Appalachian Mountain range.

Those who prefer to walk where horses once trod may check out the Pony Express National Historic Trail, which traverses five western states. While men on horseback rode along this route to deliver mail for only two years (1860-1861), it has earned a leading role in our country’s lore. Museums and interpretive sites along the route add to the experience.

Mules, rather than horses, pulled barges loaded with coal, lumber and agricultural produce along the C&O Canal, which for nearly 100 years (1831-1924) served as a lifeline for communities along the Potomac River from Washington, DC to Cumberland, Maryland.

The animals walked on a path beside the canal and hikers today pass the original locks, aqueducts and other structures. They also encounter sites from which Union and Confederate troops during the Civil War shot over the water and crossed it to raid enemy camps on the opposite side.

Other Civil War locations also await exploration by foot. Part of the 2,000-plus mile-long Appalachian Trail, which runs from Maine to Georgia, brings aspects of the past to life in West Virginia. It traverses Harper’s Ferry, where the abolitionist John Brown led a raid in 1859 which was intended to launch a battle to free all slaves. Ruins of the Harper’s Ferry arsenal and armory serve as reminders of that incident. Numerous Civil War-related sites are found in Virginia, where more battles took place than in any other state. A number of battlefields are laced with trails which introduce visitors to the clashes that occurred there.

The initial skirmish between Union and Confederate armies was the Battle of First Manassas. A 5.2-mile loop trail passes the original stone bridge, buildings that stood when the fighting occurred and other reminders of that time.

A 4.3-mile hike in the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park recalls the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse. More than 3,000 Confederate troops were captured, the largest apprehension of forces during the entire Civil War.

Another conflict is recalled along the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail, which meanders through and to places where the War of 1812 was waged in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC. That struggle pitted the Unites States against the United Kingdom.

One major incident was the invasion of Washington, the U.S. capital, by British troops. After occupying the city, they set fire to a number of buildings including the U.S. Capitol and Presidential Mansion. A treaty ratified by Congress in 1815 officially ended the fighting. There also are places that delve further back in the past. The Little Bluffs Mounds Trail in Wisconsin leads to a sacred spot where people of the Native American Mississippian culture lived. During their heyday (1000-1550 AD), they constructed large earthen platform mounds, and the interpretive trail tells their story and that of the knolls they built.

Rock art is the big attraction along Hieroglyphic Trail 101 in Arizona’s Superstition Mountains. The images date back more than 1,500 years, to when the Hohokam People lived there. The name of the tribe is Native American for “those who have vanished.”

Fortunately, evidence of incidents that helped to shape the United States’ past remain. It is located throughout the country and awaits exploration by foot.