Fort Dobbs was an 18th-century fort in the Yadkin–Pee Dee River
Basin region of the Province of North Carolina, near what is now
Statesville in Iredell County. Used for frontier defense during
and after the French and Indian War, the fort was built to
protect the British settlers of the western portion of what was
then Rowan County from Cherokee, Catawba, Shawnee, Delaware and
French raids into North Carolina. The fort's name honored Arthur
Dobbs, the colonial Governor of North Carolina from 1754 to
1765. When in use, it was the only fort on the frontier between
South Carolina and Virginia. On February 27, 1760, the fort was
the site of an engagement between Cherokee warriors and
provincial militia that ended in a victory for the militia. Fort
Dobbs was abandoned after 1766, but archaeological work in the
20th century and historical research in 2005 and 2006 led to the
discovery of the fort's exact location and probable appearance.
The site on which the fort sat is now operated by North
Carolina's Division of