Fort Prince George (South Carolina)
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Fort Prince George was constructed in 1753 in northwest South Carolina, on the Cherokee Path. It was named for the Prince of Wales, who would later become King George III of the United Kingdom. It was the principal Carolinian trading post among the Cherokee "Lower Towns".
The fort was built on the Keowee River, across from the largest "lower town", Keowee (Cherokee town). The fort was 200 foot square built of clay and wood with walls 12 to 15 feet high, surounded by a deep trench. The fort's interior living area was about 100 feet square. The interior contained a guardhouse, a storehouse, a kitchen, a magazine, barracks, and residence. [1]The fort served as a staging point for British assaults on the Cherokee during the French and Indian War around 1760. The fort was abandoned by 1768.
The site is in modern day Pickens County, South Carolina. The fort was excavated 18 months prior to the fort was submerged by Lake Keowee after the completion of the Keowee Dam in 1971. All of the fort was excavated. Some of the items discovered included:
- three presumed Indian skeletons
- musket and cannon balls,
- rum bottles,
- pieces of cooking utentsils, and
- wine glass fragments[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Edgar, W. (ed.) (2006) South Carolina Encyclopedia. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 1-57003-598-2.
- ^ Michael Hembree and Dot jackson (ed.) (1997) Keowee: The story of the Keowee River Valley in Upstate South Carolina.
