The Sheepskin Trail is a 32-mile branch of the Youghiogheny River Trail and part of the Great Allegheny Passage. It adjoins the Youghiogheny River Trail at Wheeler Bottom and enters the Borough of Dunbar. Dunbar, originally called Frogtown, was settled in the 1790s and is named for Colonel Thomas Dunbar, who led the 48th Regiment of Foot during the undeclared French and Indian War. Along with General Edward Braddock, Colonel Dunbar came to America in 1755 to help retake Fort Duquesne, and his camp was located in the area now known as Jumonville. Around 1793, toward the end of that turbulent period, Isaac Meason started his Union Furnace #1, and since that time the area has been home to a wealth of industry. As part of the Connellsville Coke Region, Dunbar was vital to the production of steel in Pittsburgh, and some coke oven sites still exist along the trail. Following former trail beds, the route continues through Uniontown to Point Marion, where it links with the West Virginia Rail Trail System, and it will connect to the American Discovery Trail, a 6,300 mile-long trail system stretching from Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware to Port Reyes National Seashore in California.
