South of here stood Elk Garden Fort, built in 1774 to protect settlers of European descent along the upper Clinch River. Conflict between Indians and settlers intensified early in the 1770s as Shawnee and Mingo resisted white occupation. In June 1774, Lord Dunmore, royal governor of Virginia, recommended the construction of a new string of fortifications. By Sept., members of Capt. Daniel Smith’s company of Fincastle County militia under the immediate command of Sgt. John Kinkead had garrisoned Elk Garden. The site, an important outpost until the 1790s, was later part of the homestead of Gov. Henry Carter Stuart (1914-1918).