Recent archaeological evidence suggests, however, that the structure was actually a cantilever barn built by a farmer named Jacob Stephens around 1860.

[2] In the late 18th-century, blockhouses dotted East Tennessee and the Trans-Appalachian frontier, as attacks from hostile Cherokee and other Native Americans were a constant threat.

Analysis of the tree rings in the Swaggerty Blockhouse's logs indicated a cutting date of 1860, well after the region's frontier period.

The creek slices a narrow, but fertile valley amidst the foothills of the Bald Mountains, which rise a few miles to the southeast.

The first story consists of a stone-and-mortar springhouse built around a natural spring which empties into Clear Creek a few yards away.

[1] In 2001, David Mann of the University of Tennessee conducted both a dendrochronological and standard archaeological study of the Swaggerty Blockhouse and adjacent grounds to determine the structure's age.

Swine bones and ashes discovered on the north side of the blockhouse indicate that this area may have once been used for butchering hogs.

1860) and the artifacts assembled from excavations on adjacent grounds provide the most compelling evidence for the later construction date.

Jacob Stephens, who was an active hog farmer, likely used the north side of the structure as a butchering area.