Port Royal, Tennessee

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Port Royal, Tennessee is a community on the border of Montgomery and Robertson counties in Tennessee. It is home to Port Royal State Park.

Port Royal is located at the confluence of the Red River and Sulphur Fork Creek. It was one of the earliest and most populous settlements outside of Nashville. The first settlers who arrived there were members of the Prince family and others who were coming from the Old 96 district of South Carolina. This was in the spring of 1782. Soon after the first meeting of the Tennessee county court held its first meeting nearby on Parsons Creek.

In 1791, the Red River Baptist Church was founded at the mouth of the Sulphur Fork Creek. This church is thought to have been the only church for nearly 200 miles during its first few years of use.

On Oct. 25th, 1797, the town of Port Royal was incorporated. It quickly became thriving center of commerce for the upper middle Tennessee area. This was because of it strategic location on the head waters of the Red River and the Sulphur Fork Creek. These streams meander through eastern Montgomery, Robertson, and Sumner counties in Tennessee, and Logan County, Kentucky.

In the fall of 1838 the Cherokee removal to Oklahoma, enforced by the Indian Removal Act, crossed the Red River at Port Royal. A diary record from Elijah Hicks tell of the stay at Port Royal. This is the only written record of this stopping place, but of the 11 detachments that were moved, it is known that eight of them followed the designated North Route that went through Port Royal. This terrible event came to be known as the Trail of Tears.