Kilgore Fort House
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The Kilgore Fort House is a historic site located in Scott County, VA just off highway 71 two miles west of the town of Nicklesville, VA. The fort house was built in 1790 and is an example of early frontier achitechture. It sat along a trail on Copper Creek and offered sanctuary to travelers as well as being a family home. This fort house is the only one of the seven forts still standing. It was restored in 1973-74. The house was built by the Kilgore Family as a deterent from Indian attacks. There are two stories, with two rooms on each story. The rooms have port holes in the walls as there were no windows. The rooms have been arranged so that if they were attacked they could retreat into the next, until a final stand could be made in the northeast room of the second floor. The doors were made of heavy timbers and inside held shut with a heavy bar. The house is made of white oak logs notched and placed on top of each other without nails. Rocks are then put between the logs and clinked with mud. There is a large stone chimney on the northeast side.
Despite its obvious defensive design, there is no record of the fort house being attacked by Indians. A story persists in the county that Cherokee Indians once camped on the far bank of Copper Creek, but that is unlikely since the far bank is a cliff. The fort house is on a natural crossing on copper creek that is still used today. Older residents remember when cars would ford the creek at this spot, at least two bridges, including the current one, have been built here. Unused bridge pilings still exist in the creek.
The Kilgore Fort House is also called the Kilgore Fort, but unlike the popular idea of a frontier fort, it had no walls around it. Instead it is simply a log home designed for defense, hence the term fort house.
