Trading Ford

… former ford across the Yadkin River, Rowan and Davidson Counties. The E end of Big Island was one terminus of the ford. In 1701 John Lawson visited the site, which was on a trading path maintained by Indians across central North Carolina. Gen. Nathanael Greene's American army made a crossing there, February 1, 1781, when almost caught by Cornwallis. High water prevented the British from overtaking the exhausted Americans. A Confederate fort and earth-works nearby protected the railroad and a toll bridge during the Civil War.