Fort Dickerson

Today I ventured to Fort Dickerson. With the entrance located off of Chapman Highway, I drive past this area numerous times during the week and have been seeing the renovations that have been taking place over the past year. That piqued my interest and I decided to go explore the area today.

When I first parked my car, I got out and went to look at the overlook and soon learned that the Quarry that I have been to numerous times is called the Fort Dickerson Quarry. I was presented with an amazing overlook of the quarry and the view was so calm.

Next, I ventured to the actual fort that was used during the Civil War. Fort Dickerson was constructed in 1863 and was built with the main emphasis to keep the Confederate Army out of Knoxville. The fort did its job when the Confederate Army planned to siege Knoxville later in 1863, but decided to take a different route when they encountered Fort Dickerson and the man-power that was positioned there.

The outline of the fort is depicted in the picture above. There are 3 replica cannons within the fort area that show where they would have been placed during the Civil War. Currently, the City of Knoxville is giving Fort Dickerson a make-over and making it more visitor-friendly. There was a smell of fresh mulch as you could easily tell that mulch had just been laid down throughout the fort. It was a nice day to be outside and I enjoyed visiting Fort Dickerson and learning a little more about the earlier history of Knoxville.