James White's Fort ~ Est. 1786

Quoted from the official website for James White's Fort:

The History of James White's Fort

James White, The Founder of Knoxville, came here in the early 1780's from North Carolina. He had fought in the Revolutionary War and was given a land grant of 1,000 acres for his service. He built his 2-story log house on the present site of Knoxville in 1786. Two years later he enclosed the house and other buildings with a stockade fence for protection from the wild animals. James White was a friend of the Cherokee Indians. He negotiated several of their treaties with the settlers and they came to his home in peace and to trade with him. The courtyard of the Fort was used as a stable for the domesticated animals such as horses, cows, pigs and sheep. The area around the Fort would have been cleared of trees, and the vegetable gardens along with tobacco would be grown there. James White laid off part of his land in October 1791 to establish a town which would become known as Knoxville, named for Henry Knox, president Washington's Secretary of War.