Robert Cartwright, born in 1722 in Virginia, was an early pioneer and Indian fighter who served in the British Army during the French and Indian War and in the American Army during the Revolutionary War. He came to the Cumberland settlements in 1780 with the Donelson expedition and was a signer of the Cumberland Compact, the first articles of government for the region. He later was a member of the Nickajack expedition against the Chickamauga Indians and oversaw construction of the turnpike now followed by this highway. He died in 1809 and is buried nearby.