{"nrhp_refnum":"70000458","name":"Fort Dobbs","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Fort Dobbs Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Statesville","county":"Iredell County","state":"NC","lat":35.82143896100007,"lon":-80.88268395799997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-09-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Politics/Government"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Fort Dobbs is an archaeological site near Statesville, Iredell County, North Carolina, where North Carolina provincial forces built a log blockhouse-barrack and palisaded fort in the summer and fall of 1756.","why_significant":"It was North Carolina's only frontier post during the French and Indian War, and its small garrison defended the frontier and joined southern intercolonial expeditions. Its design, a massive three-story loopholed log barrack with flankers and a palisade, was an unusual frontier improvisation outside the mainstream of military engineering. Archaeology in 1967-1969 confirmed the fort's size and features.","narrative":"Fort Dobbs, near Statesville in Iredell County, was built by North Carolina provincial forces in 1756 on a ridge in a fork of Fourth Creek. Its centerpiece was a three-story oak log blockhouse-barrack measuring forty by fifty-three feet, loopholed for defense and ringed by a star-shaped palisade, ditch and parapet. It was the colony's only frontier post during the French and Indian War. Its small ranger garrison, led by Hugh Waddell, patrolled the Piedmont, joined the Forbes expedition and took part in campaigns against the Cherokees. In February 1760 a large Cherokee band tried to storm the fort and was repulsed. The garrison was withdrawn in 1763, and the land was later farmed, with erosion wearing away much of the site. Test excavations in 1967 and 1968 and a major dig in 1969 confirmed the fort's location, size, well, cellar and defensive ditch. The design, resembling a compact keep, is considered unusual among frontier forts.","period_of_significance":"1756-1763","architect_builder":"North Carolina Provincial forces","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Archaeological remains; about 85 percent was excavated in 1969 and the exposed features were stabilized and drained. The site is altered by erosion, farming and road realignment.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:57.404889-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/98/7180/47718098/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/70000458.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000458/923abd38b4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000458/923abd38b4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"MeliusJ","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_Dobbs_Reconstruction.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">MeliusJ</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_Dobbs_Reconstruction.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47718098","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Dobbs_(North_Carolina)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4868703"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/iredell-county/fort-dobbs-70000458/"}