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By the late 1700s, people such as Alfred Beckley’s father were buying large amounts of land in Raleigh and nearby counties.
The first European-American settler in Raleigh is not known, but William Richmond, a Revolutionary War veteran, might be one of the first. In 1799, he bought 10 acres of land near Sandstone Falls on the New River. In 1797-98, Francis Farley, who fought Indians, cleared a six-foot-wide path through Raleigh to Kentucky. Called "Farley's Trace," it was meant to help traders move beaver pelts.
The idea was to turn the path into a wagon road, but it wasn’t until 1810-11 that a state road was built through Raleigh, opening the area up to settlers. Later, in the 1840s, a new turnpike followed the same route.
