Fort Prince George was constructed in 1753 in northwest South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

, on the Cherokee Path

Cherokee Path

The Cherokee Path was the primary route from Charleston to Columbia, South Carolina in Colonial America, connecting all of the Cherokee territories.-History:In the 17th century the Cherokee Path was used by English and French fur traders....

. It was named for the Prince of Wales

Prince of Wales

Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...

, who would later become King George III of the United Kingdom

George III of the United Kingdom

George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...

. It was the principal Carolinian trading post

Trading post

A trading post was a place or establishment in historic Northern America where the trading of goods took place. The preferred travel route to a trading post or between trading posts, was known as a trade route....

 among the Cherokee

Cherokee

The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...

 "Lower Towns".

The fort was built on the Keowee River

Keowee River

The Keowee River is created by the confluence of the Toxaway River and the Whitewater River in northern Oconee County, South Carolina. The confluence is today submerged beneath the waters of Lake Jocassee, a reservoir created by Lake Jocassee Dam....

, across from the largest "lower town", Keowee. The fort was 200 feet (61 m) square built of clay and wood with walls 12 to 15 feet (4.6 m) high, surrounded by a deep trench. The fort's interior living area was about 100 feet (30.5 m) square. The interior contained a guardhouse, a storehouse, a kitchen, a magazine, barracks, and residence. The fort served as a staging point for British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 assaults on the Cherokee

Cherokee

The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...

 during the French and Indian War

French and Indian War

The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...

 around 1760. The fort was abandoned by 1768.

The site is in modern day Pickens County, South Carolina. The fort was excavated 18 months before the fort was submerged by Lake Keowee

Lake Keowee

Lake Keowee is a man–made reservoir in the United States in the state of South Carolina shaped somewhat like a Christmas tree. It is notable for having been created to serve the needs of a power utility called the Duke Energy company as well as public recreational purposes...

after the completion of the Keowee Dam in 1971. All of the fort was excavated. Some of the items discovered included:

• three presumed Indian skeletons
• musket and cannon balls,
• rum bottles,
• pieces of cooking utentsils, and
• wine glass fragments