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County roads in 1868 — Part I

By Janet Morrison
Did You Know?
Did you know that in 1868 most of the main roads in Cabarrus County were named for their destinations?  As I have stated in earlier “Did You Know?” columns, roads interest me. I like to try to figure out where roads used to be in relation to where they are today.

On Sept. 19, 1868, the Cabarrus Board of Commissioners appointed citizens to oversee each of the “public roads” and 24 roads were listed along with the designated overseers. 

The local economy was still struggling from the beating it took during the War Between the States. There was no highway department or Department of Transportation in North Carolina then. Citizens were responsible for the maintenance of the roads. It was the responsibility of the overseers to organize their neighbors to work on the roads.

Please refer to the accompanying sidebar for a list of 24 roads in Cabarrus County in 1868. The names of overseers are included for roads known to be in Township 1.

Perhaps present-day Old Salisbury Road was Salisbury Road in 1868. It is interesting that there was a Salisbury Road, New Salisbury Road, and a New Road from Concord to China Grove. As difficult as it was to build and maintain roads in that day, it seems redundant to have three roads with essentially the same destination.

Was Old Camden Road at that time what we know as Flowe’s Store Road today, which becomes Old Camden Road when it crosses Albemarle Road? If there was already an Old Camden Road in 1868, where was the original Camden Road? U.S. 601 goes from Concord to Camden, S.C., today.

Note that in 1868 there was a Charlotte Road and an old Charlotte Road. Was Charlotte Road what we know as Old Charlotte Road today? If so, where was the road in 1868 that was already being called “old Charlotte road?” The details given in the third road on the above list gives us some clues when pieced together with other sources.

Dotson’s Mill is thought to have been in the vicinity of CMC-NorthEast. The John Gingles, Jr. and William Lee Gingles homes were in what Misses Adelaide and Eugenia Lore called “the western quadrant” when they divided Cabarrus County into four sections in their book, “Open the Gate and Roam Cabarrus With Us.” Exact locations of houses were not given in the book, but I believe the “Gingles Place” was probably in Township Two, in the Poplar Tent area. Therefore, the Old Charlotte Road of 1868 must have run from a creek near the present hospital to a fork in the road at one of the Gingles houses. Too bad we don’t know which other road made up the fork.

Was the “Road from Poplar Tent to the Charlotte road” what we now know as Poplar Tent Road from Poplar Tent Presbyterian Church to U.S. 29?

The most direct route today from Concord to Cheraw, S.C., is N.C. 73 to Albemarle and then U.S. 52 from there to Cheraw via Wadesboro. In addition to a Cheraw Road, a Wadesborough Road is listed. Did the Cheraw Road in 1868 approximately follow today’s routing of N.C. 73 from Mount Pleasant to the Cabarrus-Stanly County line? No doubt, the Mount Pleasant Road of 1868 essentially followed the same route as present-day N.C. 73 from Concord to Mount Pleasant.

The “Did You Know?” column in two weeks will look at some of the other roads on the 1868 list.

Street names and caretakers in 1868

On Sept. 19, 1868, the Cabarrus Board of Commissioners appointed citizens to oversee each of the “public roads.” The following 24 roads (with spelling not corrected from the original Board minutes) were listed along with the designated overseers: 

(1) Salisbury Road;
(2) Old Beth Page Road;
(3) old Charlotte Road from the middle of the creek at Dotsons Mill to the Poor House to the Patton Branch to the forks of the road at the Gingles Place;
(4) Statesville Road;
(5) Tuckaseege Road;
(6) Baties foard road;
(7) Road from Poplar Tent to the Charlotte road;
(8) Charlotte road;
(9) Rocky River Road;
(10) Old Camden Road;
(11) Cheraw Road;
(12) Wadesborough Road;
(13) Albemarle to Charlotte road with R.G. McEachern working from Bethel Church to the Charleston Road and Samuel A. Greer working from the Bridge across the ____ [illegible] at Mill Grove to the Mecklenburg County line;
(14) On the Philadelphia Road, Joseph H. McLelland working from the Charlotte Road to the middle of Back Creek; Isaac B. Teeter working from the middle of Back Creek to the middle of Reedy Creek; and M.A. Wilson working from the middle of Reedy Creek to the Mecklenburg County line;
(15) Fayetteville Road;
(16) road from the Wadesborough road east of Dutch Buffaloe Creek to the Fayetteville road east of Barriers Mill;
(17) Mount Pleasant Road;
(18) Stokes ferry Road;
(19) Gold Hill Road;
(20) the Potatoe Road;
(21) the Charleston Road from the Union County line to Muddy Creek to Anderson Creek to Rocky River to the Furr Branch to the Fayetteville Road from forks of road at P.B.C. Smith’s to Mt. Pleasant to middle of Dutch Buffaloe Creek of Millers Mill to Gold Hill road to Rowan County line;
(22) New Salisbury Road;
(23) Hileman Mill Road; and
(24) New Road from Concord to China Grove.

Bibliography
Microfilmed minutes of Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners, Lore Local History Room, Cabarrus Public Library, Concord, NC.

Open the Gate and Roam Cabarrus With Us, by Misses Adelaide M. and Eugenia W. Lore, 1971.