Swaggerty Blockhouse | |
 Swaggerty Blockhouse | |
| Location | E. of Parrottsville on Old US-321 |
|---|---|
| Nearest city | Parrottsville, Tennessee |
| Coordinates | 36°0′47″N 83°4′16″W / 36.01306°N 83.07111°W |
| NRHP reference No. | 73001756[1] |
| Added to NRHP | June 18, 1973 |
The Swaggerty Blockhouse is a historic structure near Parrottsville, in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The structure was originally believed to have been a frontier blockhouse built by early settler James Swaggerty in 1787. Recent archaeological evidence suggests, however, that the structure was actually a cantilever barn built by a farmer named Jacob Stephens around 1860.[2]
In the late 18th-century, blockhouses dotted East Tennessee and the Trans-Appalachian frontier, as attacks from hostile Cherokee and other Native Americans were a constant threat. While the Swaggerty Blockhouse bears some resemblance to historical blockhouse descriptions, it lacks common blockhouse characteristics such as gun portals. The Swaggerty Blockhouse's degree of cantilever (i.e., the degree to which the upper story extends outward beyond the lower story) is also greater than typical frontier blockhouses. Analysis of the tree rings in the Swaggerty Blockhouse's logs indicated a cutting date of 1860, well after the region's frontier period.[2]
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ a b David Mann, The Dendroarchaeology of the Swaggerty Blockhouse, Cocke County, Tennessee, p. iv. May 2002. Retrieved: 28 July 2009. PDF file.