The Lower Creek Trading Path passed by just outside the fort's northwestern blockhouse, and continued in a westerly direction to a natural ford on the Ocmulgee River.

The fort originally had a log palisade wall surrounding a 1.4-acre area, which contained living and working quarters for soldiers and officers, as well as two blockhouses on the northwestern and southeastern corners.

Fort Hawkins was built by the United States in 1806, and was a place of "relatively great economic, military, and political importance.

This ancient path was improved and became a part of the Federal Road to connect the nation's capital city with the ports of Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans, Louisiana.

A former US Senator from North Carolina, Hawkins had been appointed by President George Washington to deal with the Choctaw, Cherokee and Chickasaw in the larger territory, and worked to bring about years of peace between the Creek and American settlers.

[3] From 1928, the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Macon Kiwanis Club raised funds to create a replica of one of the blockhouses to memorialize the fort.

In 1936, archaeological a small excavation under the direction of archaeologist Gordon Willey, and supported by workers and funded under the US Works Progress Administration (WPA) was conducted.

The upper floors were made of concrete formed to simulate the original wood timbers, intended to be more durable at a time of uncertain funding for historic projects.

Because historical records had been destroyed when Washington, D.C., was burned during the War of 1812, in 1971 the city authorized limited archaeological excavation to establish the original dimensions of the fort.

Archeologists were concerned that construction of the Fort Hawkins Grammar School and a road on part of the site in the early 20th century had destroyed the archaeological record.

[8] The nearly 40,000 artifacts recovered from the fort era (1806–1821), provide insight into the lives of the different groups of people interacting with one another on the American frontier.

This physical evidence proves that the fort was more important than previously understood, indicating the need for additional study and a more thorough interpretation of the artifacts.