Some of the first white frontiersmen forging into Cherokee Indian Territory came from Virginia and North Carolina. They brought along their families in covered wagons across a gap in the sloping mountains and into the North Carolina wilderness, now called Tennessee. The name of this gap echoed in campfire conversations, as familiar a word as the sounds of creaking wheels burdened by heavily laden wagons. Over the Cumberland Gap, these adventurers blazed a trail and settled together for protection along the Watauga River. Thus, they named their new home "The Watauga Settlement." These rugged risk-takers were farmers, carpenters, millwrights, millers, tanners, blacksmiths, coopers, and wheelwrights. All were known as the "Wataugans."
Two such hale and hearty pioneers were my ancestors, namely Christopher Columbus Cunningham, Sr. and Isaac Wilson, Sr. Both were signers of the Watauga Petition to the state of North Carolina. By 1796, the survivors -- not only of the perilous trek but also of Indian raids, bear and bobcat attacks, and the changing seasons -- became the first Tennesseans. This website is devoted to preserving their memory. This is their story.
Homespun
Graphics
by
Sandra Ratledge
This site is dedicated to the memory of my mother,
Beulah Cline Nipper, a beautiful product of the Knobs.
