Nashville Wharf and River Port (Cumberland River)

Prior to Nashville’s settlement, French fur trappers and traders traveled in this area, and it was known as the French Lick because of the salt and sulphur waters nearby. Let’s go back in time now to the year 1779. On a snowy winter’s day in late December, James Robertson and a small party of men, both white and Black, camped on the east side of the river where you now see the Nissan Stadium. They had come from the Watauga region of Upper East Tennessee, through the Cumberland Gap, and down through Central Kentucky to claim this land here in the Cumberland Basin. Robertson, and Virginia’s John Donelson, had been hired by North Carolina land agent and judge—Richard Henderson— to plant a community north of the Cumberland River in order to stake his claim to this region. 

The year before the Declaration of Independence, Judge Henderson had negotiated a treaty with the Cherokees to purchase thousands of acres of land in Middle Tennessee and Central Kentucky for a new colony to be known as “Transylvania,” which in the Romanian language means “beyond the woods.” By 1779, the Revolutionary War was in full force with American colonists fighting for independence from the British. So, Judge Henderson decided to send settlers to make his claim to the Cumberland area official before the war’s end.

Tradition has it that Robertson and his men crossed the Cumberland River from the other side of the river on Christmas Day, sending their livestock ahead first to test the strength of the ice. Their first task was to build some kind of rudimentary shelter for protection from the weather. They also prepared for the arrival of their families that were coming with John Donelson’s party by way of the Tennessee River, then up the Ohio and up the Cumberland River to this spot. The Donelson party was traveling by flat boat from Fort Patrick Henry, near the present-day city of Kingsport. Robertson traveled south to rendezvous with the Donelson party near Muscle Shoals in the present-day area of northern Alabama. After getting lost in a snow storm, Robertson returned, not knowing what had happened to the Donelson party or whether he would ever see his family again. Imagine their surprise when months later, in April 1780, the Donelson party arrived. Imagine the joyous reunion that must have followed.

Facing the Cumberland River, turn to your left and walk up First Avenue along the sidewalk. You will see Ft. Nashborough on your right. This is your next stop.