Fort Blount-Williamsburg Site

Fort Blount was a frontier fort and federal outpost located along the Cumberland River in Jackson County, Tennessee, United States. Situated at the point where Avery's Trace crossed the river, the fort provided an important stopover for migrants and merchants travelling from the Knoxville area to the Nashville area in the 1790s. After the fort was abandoned around 1800, the community of Williamsburg developed on the site and served as county seat for the newly formed Jackson County from 1807 and 1819. The fort and now vanished village sites were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Constructed in 1788, Avery's Trace crossed the Cumberland River at a natural river ford known as "Crossing of the Cumberland," where sandbars made it possible to wade across for much of the year. A ferry was established in 1791, and the following year a blockhouse was built on the river's east bank. In 1794, a larger fort was constructed on the west bank of the river opposite the ferry. Eventually named for Southwest Territory governor William Blount, the fort was garrisoned by militia and later by U.S. Army regulars until it was closed in 1798. Excavations conducted by the Tennessee Division of Archaeology between 1989 and 1994 revealed the fort's location and provided evidence of its shape.