Fort Nelson (Kentucky)

For Camp Nelson in Jessamine County, Kentucky, see Camp Nelson National Cemetery and Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park.

Plaque commemorating the location where Fort Nelson stood

Fort Nelson, built in 1781 by Richard Chenoweth, was the second on-shore fort on the Ohio River in the area of what is now downtown Louisville, Kentucky. Fort-on-Shore, the downriver and first on-shore fort, had proved to be insufficient barely three years after it was established. In response to continuing attacks from Native Americans and the threat of British attacks during the Revolutionary War, Fort Nelson was constructed between what is currently Main Street and the river, with its main gate near Seventh Street. It was named after Thomas Nelson, Jr., then the governor of Virginia. (Kentucky was part of Virginia at the time.)

In the fort's place today stands Fort Nelson Park.

See also

• Corn Island (Kentucky)
• Fort-on-Shore
• Fort William (Kentucky)
• Spring Station (Kentucky)
• Floyd's Station (Kentucky)
• Low Dutch Station
• Bryan's Station
• History of Louisville, Kentucky
• List of parks in Louisville, Kentucky
• Shippingport, Kentucky
• Station (frontier defensive structure)

References

• Yater, George H. (1987). Two Hundred Years at the Fall of the Ohio: A History of Louisville and Jefferson County (2nd edition ed.). Louisville, Kentucky: Filson Club, Incorporated. ISBN 0-9601072-3-1. 

Gallery

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  Satellite image showing location of Fort Nelson in relation to other early Louisville area settlements

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  Fountain in the center of Fort Nelson Park

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  Fort Nelson Park nameplate

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  1885 sketch of the fort