Shelton, and in 1756 Col. John Buchanan surveyed off 650 acres of James Patton’s land in Elk Garden for John Shelton (LO 33-196).   

            In 1767 John Shelton mortgaged this tract to his son-in-law, Patrick Henry, Sr.  (Augusta County DB 114 pg. 109).   

            Patrick Henry, Sr., wound up with this land, and Col. William Christian got the land from him.  Christian married the daughter of Patrick Henry. He was a New River German pacifist by birth, but had become second in command of the Fincastle Militia.  When the frontier was ordered to be fortified in 1774 by the Royal Governor, Lord Dunmore, Christian was sent to the Clinch Valley to oversee the construction of Maiden Spring Fort, Elk Garden Fort, and Glade Hollow Fort at present Lebanon. 

            Christian sold the land to Benjamin Estill, who had earlier bought 1,400 acres at Hansonville from Col. William Christian.  Christian then sold the Elk Garden Tract to Alexander McClenachan (Russell Co. DB 2-90).  McClenachan (various spellings) had married a daughter of John Shelton, and was a colonel in the Botetourt Co. Militia. 

            April 22, 1795 McClenachan sold this tract to a man listed as Samuel Ervin (Russell DB 2 pgs. 90-91).  April 21, 1796 a man listed as Samuel Ewing sold the tract to Richard Price, Sr. (Russell DB 2 pg. 113). 

            The main path of immigration into the waters of the upper Clinch Valley was from the New River at the Narrows.  The trail went by East River Mountain to either its north or south, and came out on the headwaters of the Clinch River, which the settlers followed downstream.   

            The Smith family had lived in Stafford County, where George Washington grew up, and in 1784 Col. Henry Smith started to acquire land along the bottoms of what is now called the Little River, but then was known as the Maiden Fork of the Clinch.  He settled above the river bottoms at the northeastern corner of House and Barn Mountain, and named his plantation “Clifton” after a cliff on the river he admired.  He subsequently acquired hundreds of acres more.  He is buried there under a large slab of rock. 

            Col. Henry Smith’s brother, Captain Daniel Smith, later a General, actually built the Elk Garden Fort.  He had been a surveyor for the Loyal Land Company.  It was sometimes called “Smith’ s Fort”.  He never owned the land on which the fort was built.  This fort is confused with one that may have existed in the Belfast community to the east.  The Elk Garden Fort was strategically located to interdict the junction of several Indian trails.  These are current State #656 coming from Lebanon, and State # 80 which carried traffic from the north from the Breaks of the Big Sandy. Both divided again at their intersection in front of the fort into trails  ... Continued, Page 4