Raid on Martin's Station
May 13-15, 2005
Georgia Society of the
Sons of the American Revolution
Historic Sites & Celebrations Committee
On May 14th 2005 Sons of the American Revolution from Virginia and two other state societies joined Friends of the Wilderness State Park and a local TV station to have a commemorative program focused on wreath presentation at the site of Martin's Station located in the Cumberland Gap of Virginia/Tennessee. The SAR helped commemorate the Station's role as an important intermediate stop on the land route from Virginia to the western lands. Over the years beginning in 1775, several hundred thousand wayfarers had stopped at the station for encouragement, rest, provisioning and protection on their way West through the mountains. This route had been used by buffalo, Cherokee and other Native Americans and early traders and trappers as the best, and sometimes only navigable route to the West. Joseph Martin built a station/fort on the trail during the Revolution. Frequently raided by unfriendly Indians and destroyed, the station was rebuilt several times