The Young Wilderness Road

The Young Wilderness Road Sonic Forge Productions Written by Scott L. Prentice A folk Americana ballad about the Young family’s 1817 journey from South Carolina along Daniel Boone’s Wilderness Road to Laurel County, Kentucky—ten to fifteen miles a day, through cane and brush, into the first autumn snow. Lyrics [Verse 1] Left the red clay and the Carolina pine With the wagons loaded and the children in line Said goodbye to the place where the roots ran deep Turned the teams toward the hills and the long hard sleep [Chorus] Down the Wilderness Road where Boone cut the way Through the cane and the brush and the buffalo trail Ten to fifteen miles on a clear pleasant day Then the snow came falling and the young ones pale We kept on rolling for Kentucky’s land Young family coming with the sun in their hand [Verse 2] Woke one morning under four inches of white Frost on the blankets and the fire burned low all night The children were quiet the oxen stood still But the road still called past the ridge and the hill [Chorus] Down the Wilderness Road where Boone cut the way Through the cane and the brush and the buffalo trail Ten to fifteen miles on a clear pleasant day Then the snow came falling and the young ones pale We kept on rolling for Kentucky’s land Young family coming with the sun in their hand [Verse 3] London lay waiting where the Laurel woods stand New ground to clear and a cabin of hand The old road behind us the future in view A place for the children and the story of you [Final Chorus] Down the Wilderness Road where Boone cut the way Through the cane and the brush and the buffalo trail Ten to fifteen miles on a clear pleasant day Then the snow came falling and the young ones pale We kept on rolling for Kentucky’s land Young family coming with the sun in their hand [Outro] Wilderness Road… Wilderness Road… Young family coming… home Young family coming… home © 2026 Scott L. Prentice / Sonic Forge Productions. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution is prohibited. #WildernessRoad #FolkAmericana #KentuckyHistory #SonicForgeProductions #ScottLPrentice