Fort Loudoun (Monroe County, Tennessee)

Beyond my love of the great outdoors and sense of adventure, I also consider myself a bit of a history buff and when offered the opportunity to visit notable historic sites, I always take advantage. While leaving the Knoxville, Tennessee area, one such site was only a short detour away and I had to go. Fort Loudoun was a wooden fortification built by the British between 1756 and 1757 to help garner support from the Cherokee at the outset of the French and Indian War. This definitely seems like some place I want to check out. Though the original fort was likely destroyed over time, it was recreated from the original plans in the 1930's.

A state historic site complete with visitors center/museum has been built nearby to preserve and educate on the historic fort. After passing briefly through the museum, I make way out to the fort, which sits on a small peninsula (itself on a small island) jutting out into the Little Tennessee River. The fort is of wooden construction and consists of a palisade surrounding somewhat complicated diamond configuration. As I read the information placards, I learn that it was also originally surrounded by a dry mote and row of thorn bushes. Built on a hillside, the palisade follows the contour of the land to fortify the structures within. At each of the four points of the diamond a platform has been built inside to host several small canons, which are shown here as replicas. I can imagine this would have been a fairly difficult fortification to attack with all of these defenses.

Inside the stake walls, a number of structures served as home to the residents. These include a series of barracks, a storehouse, powder magazine, and blacksmith shop. It's open and roomy in here and the flag of the thirteen colonies flies overhead. I can imagine being a British soldier back in that time and being stationed here at the furthest reaches of the known world. It must have been exhilarating. 

My tour of the facility now complete, I wander slowly back to my car still lost in my thoughts of what it must have been like back then. Back to reality though, I have a long drive home and I need to get started on that.