When Was Nashville Founded?
- 2 sections
- 1 table
- 4 sources cited
Nashville was founded in the winter of 1779 to 1780, starting with James Robertson’s arrival on Christmas Day, 1779. Wikipedia’s history of Nashville says Robertson traveled overland for two months and “arrived on the banks of the Cumberland River near the center of present downtown Nashville on Christmas Day, 1779” (Wikipedia). The families came separately. John Donelson led them by river, and his group reached the settlement in 1780 after a winter voyage slowed by ice, floods, and Chickamauga Cherokee attacks, one of which captured a boat with 28 people on board (Wikipedia). The settlers named the settlement for General Francis Nash, and it became Fort Nashborough. After that, the dates are administrative. North Carolina incorporated the town of Nashville in 1784, it was chartered as a city in 1806, and it was chosen as the permanent state capital in 1843.
Nashville’s Founding Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| about 13,000 BC | first known Native American settlers in the area |
| around 1300 | Nashville area is a center of the Mississippian culture |
| 1689 | French-Canadian trader Martin Chartier sets up a trading post on the Cumberland |
| 1710 or 1714 | Charles Charleville's French trading post at the salt lick, later called French Lick |
| November 1, 1779 | Robertson leads about 200 settlers overland toward the Cumberland |
| Christmas Day, 1779 | Robertson's party reaches the river at present downtown Nashville |
| 1780 | Donelson's river party arrives; Robertson drafts the Cumberland Compact |
| April 2, 1781 | Chickamauga Cherokee attack the fort in the Battle of the Bluffs |
| 1784 | North Carolina incorporates the town of Nashville |
| 1806 | Nashville is chartered as a city |
| October 7, 1843 | Nashville is chosen as the permanent state capital |
Sources: Wikipedia, History of Nashville, Tennessee, and Fort Nashborough. The two articles disagree on two points. Charleville’s post is dated 1710 in one and 1714 in the other. Robertson’s starting point is the Watauga settlement in one and Fort Patrick Henry in the other.
The Two Founders
- James Robertson (1742 to 1814) came overland with the men. He had helped establish the Watauga Association and defend Fort Watauga in 1776, and he is called the “Father of Tennessee” (Wikipedia).
- John Donelson (1718 to 1785) brought the families by river. He kept a journal of the voyage aboard his boat, the Adventure, and his daughter Rachel later married Andrew Jackson (Wikipedia).
The older names for the site, French Lick and Fort Nashborough, are in what Nashville was called before it became a city, and the 1843 capital vote is in how Nashville became the capital of Tennessee.