Roads & Trails

Old Lexington Road

The Old Lexington Road is a road which once connected Chapin with the county seat of Lexington County. Before Lake Murray appeared in 1929, the Lexington Road crossed the Saluda River on what many older people called The Steel Bridge.

Old Two Notch Road

Old Two Notch Road runs from U S 1 near the Oak Grove community southward toward Batesburg- Leesville area. Tradition has it that the road was named for the notches blazed in the trees by the Indians to identify the trail. It was widely used in colonial times as a stage coach route and trading path.

George Washington followed Two Notch Road on his journey from Augusta to Camden in 1791. It is said that Washington's coach broke down at a large sycamore tree on the way and he rested beneath the tree. A historical marker has been erected at that site which is near the junction of Old Two Notch Road and U S 1.

Mineral Springs Road

Mineral Springs Road is part of the Old Cherokee Trail. Years ago a well-known spring was found nearby and bottled water was sold. This area is still known for water with high mineral content.

Old Barnwell Road

Old Barnwell Road runs SW from Columbia to Barnwell.

The Cherokee Trail

The Cherokee Trail parallels Hwy 378 west of Lexington between Hwy 378 and Lake Murray. This is the trail which Cherokee Indians followed from their up-country villages to Granby and the Low Country. The Cherokee Trail is possibly the  oldest road system still intact to some degree.

Remnants of the Cherokee Trail are found in several roads in the county including Old State Road, Leaphart Road, Mineral Springs Road and Old Cherokee Road. The Cherokee Trail is usually considered one of the most historic and important roads in the development of central South Carolina and in opening the frontiers in the upper part of the state.

The trail came from Charleston through Lexington County along the Congaree and Saluda Rivers through Ninety-Six area and to the lower town of the Cherokee nation in what is now Oconee and Pickens Counties. This ancient trail became a major trading route in the early 1700s for deerskins and other articles of trade between the Indians and the white men.

In 1747 it was ordered that commissioners be appointed for the Township of Saxe-Gotha for building bridges over several creeks in the area and the General Assembly passed an act to establish the Old Cherokee Path as a public road.

The route became well established and by 1820 the Board of Public Works laid out the Old State Road from Charleston to Columbia and to the mountains. The Old State Road survives today in Lexington County leading from near the Calhoun County line north along the Congaree River into Cayce and West Columbia and known as State Street within the town.