Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail
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The Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail (OVHT) is part of the U.S. National Trails System. The OVHT follows the Revolutionary War route of Patriot militia men from Abingdon, Virginia, through today's eastern Tennessee, over the mountains of North Carolina to the site of the Battle of Kings Mountain now within Kings Mountain National Military Park. The trail consists of a 330-mile coridor, including a 70-mile branch from Elkin, North Carolina that joins the main route at Morganton, North Carolina.
Fifty-seven miles of trail are officially developed for public use. Development continues on the remaining sections. The official sections of the trail were established through agreements with current landowners and often have overlapping designations. All officially certified segments are identified through the use of signs displaying the trail logo (an Overmountain man in profile on a brown and white triangle) or a white triangular blaze.
A parallel Commemorative Motor Route travels along state highways and, in some stretches, actually travels over the old historic roadway.
The OVHT is a cooperative effort of the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Overmountain Victory Trail Association, local governments, local citizens' associations, local historical societies and the states of Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
[edit] History
In 1975, anticipating the upcoming American Revolutionary War Bicentennial, citizens in the five states along the original routes--which included Georgia--reenacted the march across the mountains. They resolved to seek national recognition of this act analogous to the spontaneous response of the Minutemen at Lexington and Concord.
In the following years, they carried scrolls petitioning Congress for national designation of the route. Since no such designation existed, they worked with representatives of other American trails to create what became known as the National Trails System.
In September, 1980, the OVHT was officially designated a national historic trail by congressional authorization.
