Fort Washington Park

FORT WASHINGTON PARK. Fort Washington Park is the site of a stockade built by the family of Stephen Heard, governor of Georgia - 1781. Cherokee and Creek Indians had ceded their land on June 1, 1773, and the settlers for Virginia arrived in December 1773. During the Revolutionary period, this stockade was named Fort Washington in honor of General George Washington.

In 1780, the revolutionary government of Georgia granted a charter to lay out a city to be named Washington, the first incorporated city in the country to be named for George Washington, nine years before he became our first president. The John Nelson Stone is located here, six miles north of the Fortson Place where the granite marker originally was located.

Inscribed on the marker are: the year 1775, when John Nelson received a land grant from King George III of England; the year 1792, and the land grant survey. MARKER ERECTED MARCH 31, 1996 DEDICATED SEPTEMBER 15, 1996