Fort Nashborough

The silhouette of Fort Nashborough consists of rough-hewn log walls and blockhouses looming over the Cumberland River. James Robertson and his party constructed this settlement in seventeen seventy-nine to secure a foothold in the middle Tennessee wilderness. The original settlers spent their first winter huddled inside these cramped, freezing quarters while suffering from a lack of food and constant raids by hostile tribes. Robertson stayed, even after his own son died in the struggle to hold the perimeter against the surrounding forest.