Located in what became Brunswick County, Virginia, near Gholsonville, the fort was completed in 1714 and enjoyed three successful years of operation as the westernmost outpost of the British Empire at the time,[4] before being finally closed by the House of Burgesses in 1718.

The fort would offer them protection from hostile tribes, act as a trading center, and also provide schooling to their children to learn English culture.

In 1714 Spotswood himself visited the site and successfully persuaded the Siouan tribes, who included the Saponi, Tutelo, Occaneechi, and Eno (Stuckenock), to occupy the tract that was surveyed.

It was built according to state-of-the-art principles of fort construction at that time, in the shape of a pentagon, and a blockhouse with 1400-lb cannon at each of the 5 corners, 100 yards apart, so as to enable each to command within sight of the next two.

Inside the fort was a school for Indian children, taught by a Charles Griffin, where they learned to speak and write English, and to read the Bible and Book of Common Prayer.

Hugh Jones, reported that the 77 Indian students could read, write and say their catechisms tolerably well, and that the natives adored Griffin so much, they "fain would have chosen him for a King of the Sapony Nation".

Another lesser cannon attributed to Christanna was taken to Lawrenceville, Virginia and fired to celebrate the election of Grover Cleveland in 1887, at which time it accidentally exploded; its remains in 1975 were said to be buried in the filled-in cellar of a former home.