We packed a picnic, loaded into the RV, and made our way to Ft. Loudoun State Historic Park and Sequoyah Birthplace by way of the town of Loudon. We enjoyed the little museum at the Fort and learned about the trials and tribulations of the soldiers posted there during the French & Indian Wars. The outpost was established to protect the Cherokee women and children while their men were away up North fighting for the British against the French. As the men returned home, they were attacked by white settlers in Virginia which initiated rounds of retaliation. Eventually the Cherokee lay siege to the isolated Fort and forced a surrender. We overlooked Tellico Lake while we picnicked. Before the lake was impounded, we would have been on the banks of the Little Tellico River. After lunch, we walked around the reconstructed fort. Most of the original structures have been reconstructed and it is always interesting to see how people lived and coped in earlier times.
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| Approaching the fort |
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Bill and Melanie
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| Barracks from the back |
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| Officer's quarter and guard quarters |
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| Cherokee summer house on the left and winter lodge on the right |
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| Protective fortifications of thorny locust |
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| Each corner had cannon posts |
When we left the fort, we went a short distance down the road to the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum. The great Cherokee Sequoyah who invented the Cherokee syllabary and was responsible for the great level of literacy among the people was born in the small village of Tuskegee near the site of the museum. The museum is small and includes few artifacts, but it tells a moving story of Sequoyah and the Cherokee people as they transitioned from independent natives to exiles in Oklahoma.
We got home before five, in time to enjoy more of the beautiful weather out on the deck with wine and beer. Bill discovered that another cedar had fallen, probably in the last storm.
Just before we came in we were treated to a most spectacular sight. More than a hundred black vultures were spiraling overhead, riding an updraft. We few more flew in from the southwest and joined flock. Then slowly, a few at a time, they began moving in a straight line to the northeast until there was a steady stream going that way. They were not in formation, like geese, but flew purposefully. We suppose we witnessed a large migrating flock, which we see occasionally, but never like this! Wish I could have gotten a picture.
