Bledsoe's Fort Historical Park preserves the site of the settlement founded by Isaac Bledsoe in 1780. Isaac Bledsoe first came to this area in 1772 and returned eight years later with his family. His initial attempts to establish a settlement in 1780 were unsuccessful, but in 1783 he and his brother Anthony and their families constructed a civilian fort. The frontier fort was occupied continuously from 1783 to 1806. It was not a military post but a collection of residences protected by a stockade, and at least seven households occupied the station from 1784 through 1796. By then Native American raids had largely ceased and families dispersed to individual homesteads, leaving only the Bledsoe family. In 1995, the Bledsoe's Lick Historical Association and Middle Tennessee State University began a long-term joint historical and archaeological project to learn more about the fort itself and how its inhabitants lived, and archaeological fieldwork has yielded a wealth of information as the project continues.