page_title: Fort Blount
section_title: Williamsburg
hierarchical_section_title: Fort Blount / History / Williamsburg
caption_attribution_description: English: The site of the village of Williamsburg, Tennessee, looking west the tobacco barn along Smith's Bend Road in Jackson County, Tennessee, USA. The old jail was located near the tree on the left. Smith's Bend Road is partially visible at the extreme right. Special thanks to local resident Gene Smith for pointing me to the location of this site and adjacent sites.
context_page_description: 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.
context_section_description: After the closure of the fort, Sampson Williams purchased most of the property and adjacent land, establishing a sizeable plantation. In 1800, the "Fort Blount" post office opened with Williams as post master. Until 1805, Williams' land was part of Smith County, and the Smith County court convened at Williams' tavern several times. In 1805, the county boundaries were redrawn, and the Williams plantation was now in Jackson County. In 1806, the Tennessee legislature authorized the purchase of 60-acre (24 ha) of the Williams farm to create a county seat. The town was incorporated as "Williamsburg" the following year.
  Besides the courthouse and jail, completed in 1808, Williamsburg included a hotel, a general store, and at least five houses, reached by the Fort Blount ferry. Residents in eastern Jackson County complained that the courthouse was too far away, requiring them to make a 2-day round trip. In 1818, Jackson County voters moved the seat to a more central location and the town of Gainesboro was established.  Williamsburg was de-incorporated in 1820.
caption: The site of Williamsburg, looking toward what was once the jail and courthouse
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