In 1975, anticipating the upcoming American Revolutionary War Bicentennial, citizens in the five states along the original routes reenacted the march across the mountains. They resolved to seek national recognition of this spontaneous historic act analogous to the spontaneous response of the Minutemen at Lexington and Concord.

In the following years, they carried scrolls petitioning Congress to for national designation of the route. Since no such designation existed, they worked with representatives of other American trails to create what became known as the National Trails System.

In September, 1980, the trail was officially designated a national historic trail. The Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail stretches approximately 220 miles from Abingdon, Virginia, through East Tennessee, over the high mountains of North Carolina, across the piedmont of North and South Carolina, to Kings Mountain National Military Park. A 70-mile branch from Elkin, North Carolina, joins the main route at Morganton, North Carolina. No route is designated in Georgia.

Three trails were designated: the historic, often inaccessible or unknown today, the route used by the Overmountain Victory Trail Association for its annual march reenactment each year, and the Commemorative Motor Route open to the public along public highways.

The OVNHT is a cooperative effort of the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, OVTA, local governments, local citizens' associations, local historical societies, and the states of Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

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