Trail of the Lonesome Pine / Daniel Boone Heritage Trail
Trail of the Lonesome Pine / Daniel Boone Heritage Trail is a State Scenic Byway in Virginia. Within Virginia it covers roughly 75 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along Trail of the Lonesome Pine / Daniel Boone Heritage Trail with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
Virginia's Trail of the Lonesome Pine follows Route 160 for 74 miles through the Jefferson National Forest in the extreme southwest. Also called the Daniel Boone Heritage Trail, the route retraces the path Daniel Boone blazed in 1775, a trail that carried hundreds of thousands of settlers into the western frontier over the following decades. Its modern name comes from John Fox Jr.'s 1908 novel 'Trail of the Lonesome Pine,' set in this same Appalachian coal country. The stretch of Route 160 between Lynch, Kentucky, and Appalachia, Virginia, winds through mountainous terrain with numerous tight bends and is closed to tractor-trailers as a result. Along the way, Wilderness Road State Park and the reconstructed 18th-century outpost at Martin's Station let visitors see the kind of hand-built forts early settlers relied on, and the drive connects to Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, where the broader westward migration story continues. Traditional Appalachian music and mountain culture still run deep through the small communities along the route.
- Daniel Boone's 1775 trail
- Jefferson National Forest
- 74 miles
- Wilderness Road State Park
- Martin's Station
- Cumberland Gap National Historical Park
- Appalachian music heritage
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What is a State Scenic Byway?
State Scenic Byways are roads a state has formally recognized for their scenic, natural, historic or cultural value — each state's own curated collection of drives worth taking slowly.
Where to Stay along Trail of the Lonesome Pine / Daniel Boone Heritage Trail
2 campgrounds and RV parks sit within about 5 miles of Trail of the Lonesome Pine / Daniel Boone Heritage Trail.
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