Fort Loudon State Park to Host Living History Garrison and Museum Grand Re-Opening

Event, Held Nov. 1-2, Includes Fun for the Entire Family

Vonore, Tenn. – Fort Loudoun State Historic Park will come back to life on Saturday, Nov. 1 and Sunday, Nov. 2 as the park hosts its Living History Garrison and Museum Grand Re-opening.

Free and open to the public, educational opportunities and family-friendly activities will be offered at 10 a.m. each day, ending at 5 p.m. on Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Due to a generous grant from the Grubb-Sumner Fund for Monroe County, the park’s museum has undergone several renovations. In the past year, park staff and contractors have added new displays in the park’s powder magazine, armory and a new diorama of the Tellico Blockhouse. Join the park staff at the visitor center on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. for a tour of the new exhibits and discussion on future projects at the museum.

At the fort, a “roll call” summoning re-enactment soldiers to their posts, just as the troops did 250 years ago, will signal the beginning of the living history weekend. Additionally, 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, as well as 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 the event that led up to the surrender of the fort,” Park Manager Eric Hughey said. “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.

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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