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{{Short description|18th century fort and settlement}}
{{Redirect|White's Fort|the French and Indian War fort|White's Fort (Hayfield, Virginia)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
[[File:James White's Fort 18.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|James White home in Knoxville]]

'''James White's Fort''', also known as '''White's Fort''', was an 18th-century fort and settlement that became [[Knoxville, Tennessee]], in the [[United States]].

The settlement of White's Fort began in 1786 by [[James White (general)|James White]], a [[militia (United States)|militia]] officer during the [[American Revolutionary War]]. When [[William Blount]], the territorial governor of the [[Southwest Territory]], moved the territorial capital to White's Fort in 1791, he renamed it Knoxville in honor of [[Henry Knox]], the American Revolutionary War general and President [[George Washington]]'s [[United States Secretary of War|secretary of war]].

The fort began as a cabin near what is now the corner of State Street and Clinch Avenue.  This cabin soon became the center of a cluster of fortified [[log house|log structure]]s known as White's Fort.  The original cabin later became the kitchen of the Kennedy house, which was built in the 1830s.  In 1906, when the Kennedy house was demolished for development, Isaiah Ford bought the log structure and moved it to Woodlawn Pike.  It was purchased again in 1960 by the City Association of Women's Clubs; in 1968, the timbers were reconstructed as part of the fort.  The fort still stands on a bluff near its original location.  Seven log cabins and the stockade fence remain. The cabins house pioneer artifacts and furnishings.

==See also==
*[[History of Knoxville, Tennessee]]

==References==
*{{cite encyclopedia | url=http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=489 | title=Fort James White | encyclopedia=The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture | accessdate=2011-08-19 }}
*{{cite encyclopedia | url=http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=745 | title=Knoxville | encyclopedia=The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture | accessdate=2011-08-19 }}
* Isenhour, Judith Clayton.  ''Knoxville - A Pictorial History'' (Donning, 1978), pages 19 & 168.
* ''Knoxville: Fifty Landmarks.'' (Knoxville: The Knoxville Heritage Committee of the Junior League of Knoxville, 1976), page 26.

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[http://www.JamesWhitesFort.org Official website]

{{coord|35.9647|-83.9167|display=title|region:US-TN_type:landmark}}

{{State of Franklin}}

[[Category:Buildings and structures in Knoxville, Tennessee]]
[[Category:Houses in Knoxville, Tennessee]]
[[Category:Forts in Tennessee]]
[[Category:Populated places established in 1786]]
[[Category:Historic house museums in Tennessee]]
[[Category:Museums in Knoxville, Tennessee]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Tennessee]]
[[Category:State of Franklin]]
[[Category:Relocated buildings and structures in Tennessee]]


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