Fort Hawkins in Macon, Georgia

Four weeks, four forts...  The Southeast has LOTS of forts.  Fort Hawkins was established 
in 1806, on the Georgia frontier, for trading & meeting with Native Americans.

The original 1806 fort was

rectangular in shape.

Archaeological evidence shows
that the shape of the 1.5 acre
fort changed over time.

After 1809, the fort's configuration shifted to diamond shaped.

A rebuilt section of the
palisade fence.

Fort Hawkins was manned with US Regulars and the Georgia Militia during the War of 1812 and the Creek War of 1813 - 1814.  The frontier moved west and Fort Hawkins was no longer strategically located.  The last of US troops left the fort in 1819.  The fort was used for supply storage for a number of years.  

During the Civil War, the southwest Blockhouse was used as a siting station during the Battle of Dunlap Hill and the Battle of Walnut Creek in 1864. Both battles sought to stymie Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's Army early in its  "March to the Sea"  from Atlanta to Savannah.

The final Blockhouse was dismantled and removed from Fort Hawkins in 1883.  

The southeastern Blockhouse
was reconstructed by the
Nathaniel Macon Chapter
of the DAR in 1937 -1938,
on its original site.

Archaeological exploration of the fort's grounds continue...

An excavated double

hearth fireplace

Another excavation site

at the fort








The property was redeveloped and part of it was used as a school playground.  For almost fifty years area school children were unaware that they were playing on the grounds of a historic fort.  In 1977,  Fort Hawkins Archaeological Site on the Register of Historic Places.