Journey through Fort Harrod

Located on the high ground of Wilderness Road, Fort Harrod in Kentucky was a self sufficient community of 200 pioneers.  The group of experienced frontiersmen erected a 264 square foot fort, clearing some 300 trees beyond it.  Let's take a walk around the inside..

There are seven cabins, three blockhouses and a school house - all built with foot-thick walls, squared
top and bottom to fit tightly when chinked with clay. The pointed stockades are 10 foot tall.  Notches in the stockades are placed so riflemen can rest their rifles and fire without being seem from any outside intruders.

Blockhouses, (shown in the phots) located in each corner are military centers and home to the fort's leaders.  The blockhouses were 25x44 and held the families in time of attack.  There is a 2' overhang on the 2nd story which is used for defense - shooting the enemy as he attempts to climb the wall.  First story windows are small so Indians can not hit the inhabitants.  Benches allow defenders to stand tall enough to shot through those small windows. 

The seven cabins line the front wall.  They are 1 1/2 stories, 20' long with a stone foundation to minimize wood floor rot.  (see photo) Split log steps lead up to plank doors with leather strap hinges.  The roof is clapboard and held down with lashed pine.

The schoolhouse has a huge fireplace, wooden slab benches and a dunce stool. It is located with the fort and free standing. Students learn to read from the New Testament of the Bible, and to navigate by the stars.  They are taught the alphabet with wooden paddles.  Their teacher is Jane Coombs.

In the corner of the front along the river, there is no blockhouse but a large spring that provides drinking water as well as serves as an icebox for milk.  The creek runs along the northside of the fort where the women do the washing. There is a legend that the spring is haunted at night by the ghost of the watchman who was murdered by Indians while walking beyond the fort.  Children fear going anywhere near the spring after dark. 

Next time...more inside Fort Harrod!

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Today in Pioneer History: On October 15, 1880,  the warrior Victorio, one of the greatest Apache military strategists of all time, dies in the Tres Castillos Mountains south of El Paso, Texas.