(Stagecoach image - The Great South; a Record of Journeys in Louisiana, Texas, the Indian Territory, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland, by Edward King. Documenting the American South.  University Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.)

Travel

Travel in the antebellum South was slow and arduous.  Before the railroads arrived, the most popular and mode of conveyance for those wishing to travel long distances was the stagecoach.  Because Charlotte was a courthouse town and was situated along a mail route, a number of stage lines served the small town.  From Charlotte, travelers could reach Fayetteville, Lincolnton, Wilkesboro, and Salisbury in North Carolina, and Yorkville, Camden, and Columbia in South Carolina.  Typically one trip was made each way once or twice a week.  Longer journeys outside the state, perhaps to Philadelphia or New York, entailed an exhaustive trip by stagecoach, ferry or steamboat, and railway before the traveler reached the final destination.

 

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