Watauga Old Fields

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Watauga Old Fields
DAR monument in Elizabethton, Tennessee
Location of the Watauga Old Fields settlement on modern map of Tennessee
Coordinates: 36°20′33″N 82°25′21″W ⧼validator-fatal-error⧽
Government
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  Watauga Old Fields was the name used on early pre-Tennessee records and maps, to describe the Indian old field present when European settlers arrived in the 1760s.  

European Discovery

"Watauga Old Fields," Carter County, Tennessee, located in the Sycamore Shoals area, made famous as being the first permanent settlement of the Anglo-Saxon race west of the Allegheny Mountains; the place where the first self-constituted court of five was organized and exercised its power; where the first courthouse and jail were erected, and the rendezvous at Sycamore Shoals of the heroes of King's Mountain, has a history that antedates all this by perhaps thousands of years.  Judge Andrew Greer, an Indian trader and first settler in these "Old Fields" (attracted by their beauty and fertility), asked the Cherokee chiefs about them and was told that they were always there." They had neither knowledge nor tradition of when or by whom they had been occupied. It is the intention of this paper to record a few things concerning these "Old Fields" and their inhabitants as gathered by personal observation and investigation.  The land embraced in and surrounding the "Watauga Old Fields" is as old as any in the United States as evidenced by forests of fir, pine, stunted oak and tamarack such as are now found in latitudes much farther north. Petrified wood is found in abundance. Through these forests must have roamed the reindeer and elk.    

Pre-Colonial History

That it was inhabited at a very early period is proven by the stone tools, ornaments, and weapons both of the paleolithic and neolithic ages.  The "Watauga Old Fields" proper extended from the mouth of Stony Creek down the river to the mouth of Buffalo Creek at the bend of the river, about eight miles. And wherever there was a level or bottom piece of land along any river or creek in Carter County, there was an old field or deserted village, as proven by finding stone implements, broken pottery or kitchen-middens and stone mills of various sizes from one-half bushel down to one-half pint. A large cemetery was known to be about one-half mile northeast of Elizabethton from which had been taken beads, stone axes, arrow points, pottery (whole) and a few copper implements. But the high water of 1901 exposed other cemeteries in these "Old Fields" with like deposits in them and rough stone knives, or scrapers, "pear shaped." Two peculiar stones have been found, one a rough sandstone about twenty inches long and five inches in diameter with a groove around the center polished like the groove around the stone axe; the other is the tool that was used in cutting these grooves and polishing stone implements of utility, war and ornament. It is in the shape of a common oil stone in their plane bits and other tools and is about six inches long by three-fourths of an inch thick and so hard that tempered steel will scarcely scratch it.  From the careful burial of their dead we are led to believe that they had knowledge of the Oriental world either through history or tradition, for in all Oriental countries peculiar honors have always been paid to the remains of the dead. These graves that have been washed open in the "Watauga Old Fields" where tradition made no mention of a grave have all been placed cast and west, a perpetual monument to Masonic integrity.  Their burial custom according to Masonic usage shows that they were civilized and practiced the ancient and "mystic rites" of the Masonic order.  In these graves are found clay coffins nearly two inches thick and curved to fit the dead body (many fragments as large as the hand are yet to be seen). From the depth of the implements, pieces of bone and clay coffins we infer that the dead body was placed near the surface of the earth and the coffin constructed around and over them either of moistened or baked clay and then mounded with dirt or sand.

Modern History

During the time of the Watauga Settlement, the Watauga Petition treaty with the Cherokee in 1776 occurred at the site of the Watauga Old Fields.

Later, as Carter County, Tennessee was being formed, five commissioners were appointed to locate the seat of justice for Carter County were Landon Carter, Reuben Thornton, Andrew Greer, Sr., Zachariah Campbell and David McNabb. They decided upon the place known as the “Watauga Old Fields”. Later in 1799 the town was named Elizabethton, after the wives of two of the commissions, Landon Carter (Elizabeth Maclin Carter) and David McNabb (Elizabeth Taylor McNabb).

 

Archaeology

There is no evidence here of forts, houses, or places of worship.  Ashes and coal have been dug out several feet below the surface of the earth. That the country was densely populated is proven by the number of these "Old Fields" and the large cemeteries already exposed. That they were an agricultural race is shown by the "Old Fields" themselves and the rude implements of husbandry found.  The inhabitants are industrious for they had the rough implements and material of nearly every craft of ancient times. That they were warlike is shown by their weapons. That they had tribal organization is shown by the large cemeteries. A few tumuli found in the gaps of the higher mountains show that they were superstitious. Who they were and from whence they came and what became of them will perhaps remain a mystery-for all ages to come. They are as completely lost as the "lost tribes of the children of Israel" unless they are a part of these tribes. Reasoning from his gregarious customs, implements of husbandry, pottery, etc., we may connect him with either the Incas of South America, the Toltecs of Central America or the Aztecs of Mexico.  This is a reasonable inference, but not conclusive. Whether he was a white or a colored man is a matter of mere conjecture.  

Disappearance

Whether the paleolithic man was driven out by the neolithic man or each absorbed or exterminated by the other is a matter for future investigation, but that each existed here is as clearly proven from the age of the land and remains found as any archaeological fact can be.    

Further reading

Sycamore Shoals  

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Moore, John Trotwood; Foster, Austin P. (1923). Tennessee, the Volunteer State, 1769-1923. Chicago, Nashville : The S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. Search this book on

 

        

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