In March 1775, Daniel Boone and a group of axmen met nearby at the Holston River and began blazing a trail through 200 miles of forested terrain to the Cumberland Gap and beyond to the Kentucky River. The Wilderness Trail, or Road, opened a new chapter in American history with the settlement of lands west of the Appalachians. By the end of the American Revolution, 12,000 people had crossed the Gap into the new territory. Richard Netherland purchased Netherland Inn in 1818 and served travelers on the Great Stage Road, with frequent guests including President Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson, and James K. Polk. Earlier, William King built flatboats there and shipped salt mined in Saltville, Virginia, to points as far away as New Orleans. Netherland Inn still has its original floors, plastered walls, door, and door hardware, and it is the only site on the National Register of Historic Places that was both a stagecoach stop and boatyard. The Daniel Boone Cabin was moved from its original location beside the Wilderness Trail in Duffield, Virginia, and serves as a symbolic starting point for the trail; Daniel and Rebecca Boone lived in the cabin between 1773 and 1778 before settling in Kentucky.