Fort Southwest Point 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 . Geographical setting . 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 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 Tennessee State Route 58 approximately south of Interstate 40 and south of U . S . Route 70 . History . The Southwest Point Blockhouse , 1792 - 1797 . 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 . The waning years of the Chickamauga Wars brought an increase in Cherokee attacks against the encroaching Euro - American settlers . Territorial governor William Blount kept the militia on call for much of the early 1790s in order to protect settlers and enforce the terms of the Holston Treaty . John Sevier , who commanded part of the militia , encamped at Southwest Point in 1792 . By November of that year , Sevier ' s troops had completed a blockhouse at the site , which they used as a base until 1793 when federal troops arrived . Fort Southwest Point , 1797 - 1811 . Between 1793 and 1796 , the Southwest Point Blockhouse was garrisoned by a federal contingent of 10 to 15 troops . During this time , a decision was made to replace the blockhouse with a much larger fort . While the early records regarding the fort ' s construction were destroyed in a fire , historians have determined that the fort was completed by federal troops under the command of Captain John Wade and Captain Richard Sparks in July 1797 . The fort was originally referred to as " Fort Butler " after Lieutenant - Colonel Thomas Butler ( commander of federal forces in East Tennessee ) , but the name had been changed to " Fort Southwest Point " by 1798 . Lieutenant - Colonel Butler moved his headquarters to Fort Southwest Point in 1799 , when nine companies ( 7 infantry , 1 artillery , and 1 dragoon ) totaling roughly 400 - 500 troops were garrisoned at the fort . Around the same time , lots had been sold for what eventually become the city of Kingston , named for Major Robert King , an officer stationed at the fort . Among the first duties of the Southwest Point garrison was to remove individuals ( known as " squatters " ) who had settled on Cherokee lands illegally . However , the first Treaty of Tellico — which Butler helped negotiate in 1798 — resolved many of the issues regarding squatters , and reduced the need for federal troops in the area . By 1801 , the Southwest Point garrison consisted of roughly 100 troops . In 1801 , Colonel Return J . Meigs was appointed Cherokee Agent and Military Agent for the War Department in Tennessee . Although its garrison had been reduced , Fort Southwest Point served as an office for Meigs and as a distribution center for the Cherokee " annuity " ( an annual payment of goods by the U . S . government in exchange for land cessions ) . Meigs immediately began negotiating with the Cherokee in hopes of obtaining permission to build a wagon road across their lands connecting Knoxville and Nashville . In 1805 , the Third and Fourth Treaties of Tellico brought most of the Cumberland Plateau region under U . S . dominion , making the road possible . As the treaties pushed the U . S . - Cherokee border south to the Hiwassee River , the garrison at Southwest Point was no longer needed . By 1807 , Meigs and most of the federal garrison had relocated to the Hiwassee area . A skeleton contingent of less than 5 soldiers maintained Fort Southwest Point until 1811 . Archaeological findings . The Southwest Point site was purchased by the Tennessee Valley Authority in the 1930s in anticipation of the construction of Watts Bar Dam ( the site is well above reservoir flood levels , however ) . In 1973 , the University of Tennessee conducted excavations at the site , locating six structures and evidence of prehistoric habitation . Between 1984 and 1986 , the Tennessee Division of Archaeology , seeking information to aide in the fort ' s reconstruction , conducted more extensive investigations at the site . These excavations uncovered nine additional structures and the palisade ditch , allowing researchers to determine the fort ' s original layout . The prehistoric findings at the site include an infant burial , storage pits , and sherds . Hickory nut shells uncovered in a basin - style hearth returned a radiocarbon date of approximately 1360 AD . Structures . According to archaeological findings , Fort Southwest Point was x , enclosing approximately . There were at least 15 structure located within the fort , the layout of which has been determined mostly from the remnants of their foundations .