Fort Nashborough - Where Nashville, Tennessee Began

In Riverfront Park, right next to the Cumberland River in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, is a reconstruction of the wooden log structure of Fort Nashborough. Typical of frontier fort settlements of the era, although smaller than the original, Fort Nashborough is operated by the Nashville Metro Board of Parks and Recreation and administered by the NashvilleFounders' Museum. It is an easy walk from the downtown business area.

The first settlers of present-day Music City built the fort in the midst of a vast wilderness, unsettled by non-natives. It is located approximately where the original was sited, open for self-guided, walk-through tours, handicap accessible. Plaques provide background information. The tour can take as little as 10 minutes.

Historical Background

Negotiations for a settlement in what was a Cherokee hunting ground got underway as early as 1775. On Christmas Eve 1779, a boatload of people led by James Robertson made landfall at this point and established the two-acre stockaded settlement that became Fort Nasborough named in honor of Revolutionary General Francis Nash. It later became Nashville.

Within months, Fort Nashborough was caught up in the American Revolution with Fort Nashborough and other protected outlying settlements struck by raiding parties of Chickasaw, Creek, perhaps Delaware and Shawnee. Chief adversaries were a band of Cherokee who settled in the Chickamauga area about the time Fort Nashborough was settled sought to oust the settlers, although many other bands remained neutral. This band's opposition culminated in The Battle of the Bluffs on April 2, 1781, in which Fort was attacked Nashborough by the band led by Chief Dragging Canoe. In that engagement, the Cherokee struck when the men had left the fort, but the women in the fort unleashed the dogs as the men successfully fought their way back to the stockade. The Chickasaw soon made peace with the settlers but the Chickamaugan Cherokee continued to oppose the settlement for 14 years.　

Admission is free. Hours are 9am to 5pm daily.

Other Nashville Attractions

Nashville, of course, abounds in numerous attractions raning from Ryman Auditorium, the original home of the Grand Ole Opry (reportedly haunted by the ghost of Hank Williams, Sr.), to the present-day Grand Ole Opry, the Country Music Hall of Fame, the General Jackson Showboat, President Andrew Jackson's Hermitage, Nashville Car Museum, the Hank Williams, Jr Museum, the Music Valley Wax Museum, Tenessee Central Railway Museum, Nashville Toy Museum, and more. A quick Google search will turn up any number of places worth visiting.

But while in Nashville, the history buff will benefit from a few minutes walking through the original Nashville, Fort Nashborough.