Fort Loudoun State Historic Park Hosts Garrison Weekend

Event Will Be Held October 5-6, Featuring Living History Demonstrations

VONORE, Tenn. – Fort Loudoun State Historic Park will come back to life on Saturday, October 5 and Sunday, October 6 as the park hosts Garrison Weekend at Fort Loudoun, the park’s annual two-day history reenactment.

The event is free and open to the public, with educational opportunities and family-friendly activities being offered at 10 a.m. each day, ending at 5 p.m. on Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday.

A “roll call” summoning re-enactment soldiers to their posts, just as it would have been done 250 years ago, signals the beginning of the living history weekend. Musket and artillery firing demonstrations will take place several times throughout the two-day event.

Park visitors will have the opportunity to view an 18th century infirmary, soldiers’ barracks, the commander’s quarters and a Cherokee encampment. Demonstrations will include a variety of tasks and skills common to a frontier fortification, including cooking, laundering and blacksmithing. Costumed living history re-enactors will go about their garrison duties throughout the weekend, taking time to interact with visitors.

“Living history presentations will be presented in the reconstructed Fort Loudoun, recreating daily life of soldiers and their families at the fort,” Park Manager Eric Hughey said. “These demonstrations and re-enactments will transport visitors back in time to life at historic Fort Loudoun.”

The visitor center and museum will be open both days. Visitors can view the new interpretive film, “Fort Loudoun: Forsaken by God and Man,” that gives a short history of Fort Loudoun, along with some of the artifacts recovered from the historic site. The Fort’s gift shop and bookstore will also be open for visitors to find that unique souvenir.

For a complete schedule of events, contact Fort Loudoun at 423-884-6217 or visit www.tnstateparks.com/FortLoudoun or www.fortloudoun.com.  

Fort Loudoun State Historic Area is a 1,200 acre site on the location of one of the earliest British fortifications on the western frontier, built in 1756. Nearby were the principal towns of the Cherokee Nation including Tenase, namesake of our state and Tuskegee, birthplace of Sequoyah. Today the fort and the 1794 Tellico Blockhouse overlook TVA’s Tellico Reservoir and the Appalachian Mountains and are located one mile off Highway 411 on Highway 360 in Vonore.

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