Fort Southwest Point
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Southwest Point
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Fort Southwest Point
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| Location | Kingston, Tennessee |
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| Coordinates | 35°51′38″N 84°31′45″W / 35.86056°N 84.52917°WCoordinates: 35°51′38″N 84°31′45″W / 35.86056°N 84.52917°W |
| Built | 1797 |
| NRHP Reference # | 72001252 |
| Added to NRHP | 1972 |
Fort Southwest Point was a federal frontier outpost at what is now Kingston, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. Constructed in 1797 and garrisoned by federal soldiers until 1811, the fort served as a major point of interaction between the Cherokee and the United States government as well as a way station for early migrants travelling between Knoxville and Nashville.
Although there are no records and few contemporary descriptions pertaining to the fort's design and structure, archaeological excavations conducted in the 1970s and 1980s have determined the fort's layout. Based on these findings, the City of Kingston and the Tennessee Division of Archaeology have reconstructed part of the fort. The site is managed by the City of Kingston.
The Fort Southwest Point site is situated on a hill overlooking the confluence of the Tennessee River and the Clinch River. This confluence is now part of the Watts Bar Lake impoundment of the Tennessee River, created by the completion of Watts Bar Dam in 1942. The Emory River empties into the Clinch approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) upstream from Southwest Point.
The Fort Southwest Point site is part of Southwest Point Park, which serves as both a historical and recreational area. The park is located along State Route 58 approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Interstate 40 and 1 mile (1.6 km) south of U.S. Route 70.
At the height of the American Revolution in 1779, Colonel Arthur Campbell suggested the confluence of the Clinch and Tennessee as a possible site for a fort to the governor of Virginia. Although Virginia never acted on Campbell's advice, the end of the war brought a flood of settlers into the Tennessee Valley, leading to increased conflict with the valley's Cherokee inhabitants. During this period, two events occurred that greatly enhanced Southwest Point's strategic importance: the construction of the Avery Trace in 1788 and the signing of the Treaty of Holston in 1791. The Avery Trace, which began at Southwest Point, became the key road connecting East Tennessee and Middle Tennessee until around 1800. The Treaty of Holston fixed the boundary between U.S. and Cherokee lands at the Clinch River, placing Southwest Point on the fringe of lands open to settlement in East Tennessee.
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