Bledsoe's Station
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Bledsoe's Station
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The site of Bledsoe's Station
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| Location | Castalian Springs, Tennessee |
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| Nearest city | Gallatin, Tennessee |
| Coordinates | 36°23′58″N 86°19′14″W / 36.39944°N 86.32056°WCoordinates: 36°23′58″N 86°19′14″W / 36.39944°N 86.32056°W |
| Built | c. 1781–1783 |
| NRHP reference # | 92000970 |
| Added to NRHP | July 30, 1992 |
| Isaac Bledsoe | |
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Isaac Bledsoe Monument in present-day Bledsoe's Fort Historical Park, Castalian Springs, Sumner County, Tennessee
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| Born | April 20, 1735 Orange, Orange County, Virginia, Virginia Colony, British North America, British Empire, present-day Orange, Orange County, Virginia |
| Died | April 9, 1793 (aged 58) near Laurel River, southeastern Kentucky |
| Cause of death | gunshot wound in skirmish by Native Americans |
| Resting place | near Bledsoe's Station, Sumner County, Tennessee, present-day Bledsoe's Fort Historical Park, Castalian Springs, Sumner County, Tennessee, |
| Other names | Isaac Bledsoe, Jr. |
| Occupation | frontiersman, longhunter, soldier, city planner, politician, land locator, judge, politician, gunsmith, miller |
| Known for | Establishing the fortified, frontier, white settlement of Bledsoe's Station |
| Parent(s) | Thomas Bledsoe, Sr. |
Bledsoe's Station, also known as Bledsoe's Fort, was an 18th-century, fortified, frontier, white settlement located in what is now Castalian Springs, Sumner County, Tennessee. The fort was built by long hunter and Sumner County pioneer Isaac Bledsoe (c. 1735–1793) in the early 1780s to protect Upper Cumberland settlers and migrants from hostile Native American attacks. While the fort is no longer standing, its location has been verified by archaeological excavations. The site is now part of Bledsoe's Fort Historical Park, a public park established in 1989 by Sumner County residents and Bledsoe's descendants.
Bledsoe's Station was one of a series of frontier outposts built in the Upper Cumberland during the first major migration of Euro-American settlers into the Middle Tennessee area following the American Revolution. The fort was a convenient stopover along Avery's Trace—the main road connecting East and Middle Tennessee at the time. The flood of settlers into the region brought inevitable conflict with the region's Native American inhabitants, and dozens of settlers were killed in the late 1780s and early 1790s. Isaac Bledsoe's brother Anthony was killed in an ambush at the fort in 1788, and Isaac was killed while tending a field outside the fort in 1793. The end of the Cherokee–American wars, the following year, ended much of the violence in the region and reduced the fort's necessity.
Bledsoe's Fort Historical Park protects the fort's excavation site, as an outline of the fort's walls can be discerned from former excavation trenches, as well as several historic structures, including the Nathaniel Parker Cabin and Hugh Rogan Cottage, who were compatriots of Isaac Bledsoe and a pioneer cemetery, with a large obelisk, dedicated to the Bledsoe brothers. The Castalian Springs Mound Site and the Wynnewood State Historic Site are located immediately east of the park, and the Cragfont State Historic Site is located immediately to the west.
Bledsoe's Station was located on a hill slope between Bledsoe Creek to the west and Bledsoe Lick Creek to the east. Both streams empty into the Old Hickory Lake impoundment of the Cumberland River just over a mile to the south. The hill is relatively blunt and consists of open fields alternating with densely forested areas. The top of the hill is used as a flying zone for radio-controlled airplanes. The spring that furnished the minerals for Bledsoe's Lick flows at the base of the hill a few hundred yards east of the fort site.
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