The Town of Port Royal

The Town of Port Royal. Port Royal State Historic Park. Port Royal was one of the earliest towns in Tennessee. It began as a settlers fort around 1785 and was founded as a town in 1797, one year after Tennessee became a state. The town became a center of regional commerce and remained an important town until the American Civil War. After the War, people left small towns like Port Royal for jobs in larger cities. As steamboats replaced flatboats and the railroad was brought to surrounding communities, the town of Port Royal was lost to time., Inscription under the photo in the lower left) , In 1799 Port Royal was established as a tobacco inspection point and in 1802 a post office was opened---the only one in the area for several years. Flatboats were built here annually to ship tobacco to New Orleans and other ports. , This is the Masonic lodge and general store built in 1858. This building still stands as the park headquarters and is the only remaining building from the town., (Inscription under the photo in the lower center) , Port Royal’s commerce was due to a major stagecoach route crossing here at the Red River. Additionally, Sulphur Fork joins the Red River at Port Royal. The two streams coming together at the road crossing made Port Royal the center of commerce for much of northern middle Tennessee and south-central Kentucky. This map was made in 1877 and clearly shows the stagecoach road. The road is shown in red for clarity., (Inscription to the left of the Town Plat photo in the upper right) , This is the plat of Port Royal as layed out in 1797. There were 36 half-acre lots. The road that would become the stagecoach route is called Spring Alley. You are standing at the top of Lot number 24., (Inscription under the photo in the lower right) , The stagecoach route was called the Great Western Road. It came through Port Royal in the early 19th century, however the road itself is likely hundreds of years older. By the 1840s it was the main route out of Nashville to the west. Port Royal’s location on the route lended itself to having many stagecoach inns and hotels. This particular one was built before 1836.