Sycamore Shoals of the Watauga

The Overmountain people began settlements along the Watauga River at Sycamore Shoals and the nearby Nolichucky and Holston Rivers during the eighteenth century. The settlers overcame what seemed impossible. They created their own government, bought land from the Cherokee people, and then ultimately had to defend their families from Cherokees hoping to recover their ancestral lands. When the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution began, the Overmountain Men joined the fight for independence, defeating the British in 1780 at Kings Mountain. This nationally significant event changed the direction of the war in favor of the Patriot cause.

Author Jennifer Bauer shares the challenges, conflicts, and accomplishments of both the European and Indigenous people in this fascinating look at the first frontier settlement west of the thirteen English colonies.