Rocky Station Fort House

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"Phil Crowther's Photograph of Rocky Spring Station, 1999"

Rocky Station: The original appearance of the fort has been altered cosmetically by later owners. The fort was purchased by the grandfather of Loran Slagle who owned the property in 1999. Loran, in an email to Phil Crowthers, said:

The location of the house is between 792 on the south and hwy 58 on the north, the house stands in the sharp bend (on the west end of 792) right in the bend. 792 is the old hwy 58 or Fincasle Road, the new hwy 58 was built in 1952.
The original Fort House, from what I can learn was only four rooms, made from logs of course. I have always been told that when my g-father bought the place in 1906, there were the four rooms, two lower and two upper. In order to get to the upper rooms there was two sets of steps on the outside, on a porch. The kitchen was detached from the main house. There is a huge double rock fireplace between the lower rooms, no source of heat for the upper rooms. When we moved from there in Nov. there is one room that is still original, no electrical or improvements at all. My g-father tore off the kitchen and two of the rooms, there are still a lower and upper room from the old Fort House.

From this description we can surmise that other changes were made in the strucuture prior to 1906. For example, access to the upper floor by external steps would not have been a desirable feature when the fort was built for protection from Indian attacks. This is clearly a later modification, possibly intended to allow separate access to the upper floor when the building was being used as the Lee County Courthouse.

At the time the photograph was taken (1999, fide Phil Crowthers) the owners intended to demolish the structure. It is not known if this has happened or not.