Davidson's Fort
Davidson's Fort is a private nonprofit historical site and education based re-enactment monument of an 18th-century fort in Old Fort, North Carolina. Along with annual Civil War Days, the fort also offers bi-monthly events such as militia musters, as well as always offering an educational view into the daily lives of the early European pioneers that settled in McDowell County and western North Carolina.
In 1763, the British and the Cherokee signed a treaty that stated the British would not settle west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Around 1770, Samuel Davidson bought one square mile of land that included the present day town of Old Fort. Samuel Davidson was the twin brother to Maj. William Davidson and the cousin of Col. William Davidson, first state senator from Buncombe County, North Carolina. The location was "the westernmost outpost of Colonial civilization".. A stockade was built on Samuel Davidson's land in 1776, and Gen. Griffith Rutherford left men behind to guard it while he went to fight the Cherokee.
In 1784 after moving farther west to Azalea, North Carolina, Samuel Davidson was killed by Cherokee at Christian Creek. Samuel's wife escaped with a baby and enslaved person to Fort Davidson. William Davidson went on to burn several Cherokee villages, chasing the natives westward.
1796 Inferior Court Minutes of Burke County refer to "Samuel Davidson's Fort".
On February 21, 1873, the town of Catawba Vale was renamed Old Fort by the state legislature to honor Samuel Davidson.
It is believed the fort was destroyed in the Flood of 1916.
