Donelson's Indian Line

Cherokee Indians lived in this area before European settlement. In the Treaty of Lochaber (1770), the Cherokee agreed to shift westward the boundary between their land and territory open to settlers. This new line was to run from the vicinity of present-day Kingsport, Tennessee, to the confluence of the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers, now in West Virginia. John Donelson represented Virginia in the party that surveyed the line in 1771. With the consent of Cherokee representative Attakullakulla, Donelson blazed a line that extended to the mouth of the Kentucky River, well to the west of the boundary delineated in the treaty. Donelson's line crossed the road near here.