Eventually named for Southwest Territory governor William Blount, the fort was garrisoned by militia and later by U.S. Army regulars until it was closed in 1798.

[4] Excavations conducted by the Tennessee Division of Archaeology between 1989 and 1994 revealed the fort's location and provided evidence of its shape.

The embankment is at the eastern end of a peninsula created by a narrow turn in the river called Smith's Bend.

[5] The Fort Blount Ferry was near the end of Smith's Bend Road, which it connected to the Flynns Creek community across the river.

Most of Smith's Bend is still private farmland, though the Army Corps of Engineers, which built Cordell Hull Dam, manages several recreational areas along the peninsula's lakeshore.

[6] In 1791, Sampson Williams (1762–1841), an early Nashville pioneer and sheriff of Davidson County, was granted the right to operate a ferry at this spot.

After Tennessee became a state in 1796, Governor John Sevier discharged the militia garrison, and the following year a company of U. S. regulars commanded by Captain William Rickard took charge of the post.

[8] In 1796, French botanist André Michaux was staying at Fort Blount when he discovered the rare American yellowwood tree in the surrounding forests.

[9] The following year, future French King Louis-Philippe passed through Fort Blount, and reported it was being modified or replaced.

[8] After the closure of the fort, Sampson Williams purchased most of the property and adjacent land, establishing a sizeable plantation.

[10] Besides the courthouse and jail, completed in 1808, Williamsburg included a hotel, a general store, and at least five houses, reached by the Fort Blount ferry.

[10] Residents in eastern Jackson County complained that the courthouse was too far away, requiring them to make a 2-day round trip.

[12] In the early 1960s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers surveyed the area for the construction of Cordell Hull Dam (located several miles downstream near Carthage).

Later research and excavations conducted by the Tennessee Division of Archaeology, however, placed both Fort Blount and Williamsburg just outside the listing's boundaries.

[7] Between 1989 and 1994, Samuel Smith of the Tennessee Division of Archaeology led a team that conducted extensive excavations of the Fort Blount-Williamsburg site, designated 40JK125.