Guide to the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail

This guide leads heritage tourists along the 330-mile Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail from southwest Virginia, into East Tennessee, over the Appalachian Mountains, into the Piedmont of the North Carolina, and then on to Kings Mountain National Military Park in South Carolina. In the fall of 1780, Patriot militiamen from the backcountry united a force of almost 2,000 to pursue and stop British Major Patric Ferguson from invading their homeland. It was a turning point toward victory in the American Revolution. Markers and exhibits along the Trail interpret the events that unfolded during this heroic two-week campaign to capture and kill Patrick Ferguson. The Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail is a unit of the National Park Service. It was the first national historic trail established in the eastern US.