A Day Away By Mike Steely
There’s an online survey asking for public input on the transition of Kingston’s Fort Southwest Point to a state park. The historic fort was built before statehood and is the only pre-Civil War fort to be reconstructed on its original site. You can comment on the change from local to state park online at www.surveymonkey.com/r/FtSwPtPLan.
The fort, built in 1797, was so named because it was the furthest western boundary of the Southwest Territory, the pre-statehood federal area that included most of what is now East Tennessee. The fort and Knoxville have a direct connection through territorial governor William Blount. Colonel Arthur Campbell suggested a fort be located there to protect travelers and settlers on the Avery Trace across the Cumberland Mountains between what was to become Knoxville and the central settlements near Fort Blount, today’s Nashville.
At first, the Cherokee were attacking travelers, and then the tribe created a ferry cross the river between what is now Kingston and Rockwood. That ferry was assumed by the Clarks and other owners following a treaty with the tribe. Southwest Point sits atop a knoll overlooking the junction of the Clinch and Tennessee Rivers, an ideal location to observe traffic on both streams. Evidence and relics have been unearthed there from a Native American settlement.
Now on the National Registry of Historic Places, the fort was reconstructed after precise efforts to find the location of buildings and walls there. The site of the blockhouse, barracks, well and palisade was located. The workers reconstructed the place using historical records and findings that echo their 18th century designs.
Artifacts and the reconstructed fort are on display for free, and a museum invites visitors to see the history of the fort. Two years ago, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced that the fort, operated by the City of Kingston, would become a state park.
Historically, the pioneer fort was called Fort Butler, after the original commander. Nine companies of militia, 400 to 500 troops, were housed there. Major Robert King, for whom Kingston is named, took command. Col. John Sevier’s troops were housed there for a while and completed building the garrison house. Col. Return Jonathan Meigs was stationed there in 1801 until he moved his Indian Agency to the Hiwassee River. The fort closed in 1811.
Fort Southwest Point Park is located south of Kingston off I-40 by taking North Kentucky Street south through the town and watching on the right for the entrance. While in Kingston, you may also want to view the historic Old Roane County Courthouse, where the town became capitol of Tennessee for one day to fulfill a treaty with the Cherokee, see the historic Gideon Morgan House or the Cornstalk Heights neighborhood of early 19th-century homes.
More information about the fort, Roane County, Kingston or the history of the ferry service at that old crossroads between the Southwest Territory and the Cherokee lands to the west can be found online at several sites, including www.roanecountytn.gov/.
It might make an interesting trip to the fort now, before the state takes it over, and again afterwards to see the difference.
