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The mansion is a part of the state park but outside the main component of it. This is the estate of one of the earliest settlers in the area, whose descendants figured importantly in the naming of the town and its destiny during the Civil War.
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Just a nostalgic bridge across the Watauga River.
This historic park contains the remnants of Fort Watauga, a military fort of westward expansion and the Revolutionary War, plus it marks the spot of the significant land deal in 1775 known as the Transylvania Transaction. It was negotiated by Richard Henderson and the Cherokee people, and pretty much secured lands between the Cumberland, Kentucky, and Ohio Rivers for the United States. Because it was acquired by a private party rather than the government, it violated the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which prohibited private purchase of American Indian land, and the transaction was not recognized by the colonial assemblies.