Completed in 1794, the blockhouse was a US military outpost that operated until 1807; the garrison was intended to keep peace between the nearby Overhill Cherokee towns and encroaching early Euro-American pioneers in the area in the wake of the Cherokee–American wars.

The Tellico Blockhouse was the site where several treaties were negotiated between the United States and the Cherokee, by which the latter ceded large portions of land in present-day Tennessee and Georgia in order to try to gain peace.

Historically, the Tellico Blockhouse was the starting point of the Old Federal Road, which connected Knoxville to Cherokee settlements in Georgia.

[4] Hanging Maw convinced Blount to construct a fort in the vicinity of the Overhill towns in order to suppress violence.

[7] According to historian J. G. M. Ramsey in his history originally published in 1853, it was: ...a strong work, of considerable size, with a projection on each square, furnished with port-holes, and calculated to stand a siege by an enemy provided with small arms only.

[9] In 1795, Congress passed the Factory Act, which sought to improve relations with American Indians by setting up official trading posts and teaching the natives agricultural and mechanical techniques.

To implement this, McKee's successor, Silas Dinsmoor, expanded the Tellico Blockhouse to nearly double its original size to incorporate a civilian half.

This was later described by Ramsey from a contemporary news article: On the 25th, a Christmas dinner was given upon the ice, by the Federal officers, at Tellico Block-house, to a large company of gentlemen and ladies.

"Contiguous to the place of entertainment, two quarters of a bear were barbecued, where the ice was found to be, in thickness, sufficient to bare fire enough to have roasted an ox, without being materially weakened by the heat.

[15] In the early 19th century, the Cherokee slowly migrated south to the Hiwassee River and deeper into Georgia, trying to escape the encroachment of European Americans.

This appointment effectively moved the agency to Fort Southwest Point (modern Kingston, Tennessee), where Meigs was based.

[16] When archeologists from the University of Tennessee conducted excavations at the Tellico Blockhouse site in the 1970s, they located the fort's foundations and a number of artifacts.

[14] Short posts were erected to show the position of the blockhouse walls, and interpretive signs were placed at the site to explain the fort's brief history.