The Kilgore Fort House Spring - Natural Springs on Waymarking.com

The Kilgore Fort House is a historic site located in Scott County, Virginia. Fort houses were built to provide protection for individual families during the period from 1773 to about 1795 when attacks by Native Americans on the pioneer settlers were common. The Kilgore Fort House was built about 1790 by the Reverend Robert Kilgore, and is the only surviving example of its type in southwest Virginia.

The Kilgore Fort House was restored in 1973–74. There are two stories, with two rooms on each story. The rooms on each floor were separated by a timber partition. The rooms have been arranged so that if they were attacked they could retreat into the next, until a final stand could be made in the northeast room of the second floor. The original building was constructed without windows, but had small openings for gun ports, which feature emphasizes its defensive purpose. The doors were made of heavy timbers and inside held shut with a heavy bar. The house was made of trimmed white oak log timbers, each of which was notched at the end to receive the timber from the adjacent wall. Gaps between timbers were chinked with mud. A large stone fireplace and chimney on the northeast side was provided for cooking and heating.

Despite its obvious defensive design, there is no record of the fort house being attacked by Indians. A story persists in the county that Cherokee Indians once camped on the far bank of Copper Creek, but that is unlikely since the far bank is a cliff. The fort house is on a natural crossing on Copper Creek.

The Kilgore Fort House is also called the Kilgore Fort, but unlike the popular idea of a frontier fort, it had no walls around it. Instead it is simply a log home designed for defense, hence the term fort house.

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Public or Private Land?: Private Public Land Fees?: None Private Land access?: Spring is located between the Fort House and Copper Creek

Visit Instructions:
Please post an original picture of the springs no GPS necessary along with your observations of the spring. What wildlife you saw if any and the condition of the springs. Water level was high, low. The area was clean, trashy ect. Any other knowledge or experiences you have had with this paticular spring that would help document it's history.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   12/30/2019 Manville Possum visited it