Editing Old Fort, North Carolina (section)

==History==
{{Main|Davidson's Fort#History}}
Before the arrival of European settlers, the area that is now Old Fort was populated by the [[Catawba people|Catawba]] and [[Cherokee]]. In the 1500s, Spanish explorers came through the area.<ref name="Boyle" /> English and Scottish settlers arrived in the area in the mid-1700s.<ref name="Boyle" />

During the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], a stockade or fort was constructed on land owned by brothers George and Samuel Davidson, "the westernmost outpost of Colonial civilization".<ref name="Boyle" /><ref name=":0">{{cite news |last=Neufeld |first=Rob |date=January 13, 2019 |title=Visiting Our Past: Happy Buncombe Day, and here's a chronology |work=Asheville Citizen-Times |url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/life/2019/01/13/visiting-our-past-happy-buncombe-county-day-and-here-is-chronology/2513138002/ |access-date=January 13, 2019}}</ref><ref name="Davidson's Fort">{{cite web |date=February 13, 2010 |title=Davidson's Fort |url=http://ashevilleandbuncombecounty.blogspot.com/2010/02/davidsons-fort.html |access-date=November 8, 2018 |archive-date=November 8, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108224632/http://ashevilleandbuncombecounty.blogspot.com/2010/02/davidsons-fort.html |url-status=live }}</ref> It was called [[Davidson's Fort]] and was the post for military expeditions such as that of Gen. [[Griffith Rutherford]] in 1776.<ref name="Davidson's Fort" /> The fort became a site for trading between settlers and Native Americans.

The arrival of the [[Western North Carolina Railway]] (WNCR) in 1869 stimulated the development of a depot and hotel.<ref name="Boyle" /> In 1871, Sanborn Worthen bought the {{convert|2200|acre|adj=on}} Old Fort Plantation from George Davidson's grandson and changed its name to Catawba Vale.<ref name="Davidson's Fort" /> Worth hoped the railroad would build its yard there, but the WNCR chose another site.<ref name="Boyle">{{cite news|url=http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2016/02/22/answer-man-dog-park-muddy-mess-old-fort-sign-confusion/80748858/|title=Answer Man: Dog park a muddy mess? Old Fort sign confusion?|last=Boyle|first=John|work=[[Asheville Citizen-Times]]|date=February 22, 2016|access-date=February 22, 2016}}</ref>

On January 25, 1872, the town of Catawba Vale was founded. The town name was changed to Old Fort on February 23, 1873,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oldfort.org/Site/Old%20Fort%20Wonders.pdf|title=History of Old Fort|access-date=November 8, 2018|archive-date=November 8, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108224657/http://www.oldfort.org/Site/Old%20Fort%20Wonders.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> honoring its origins.<ref name="Davidson's Fort" /> The railroad came to Old Fort in 1879.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Two Historic Small Towns in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains – Blue Ridge National Heritage Area |url=https://www.blueridgeheritage.com/itineraries/black-mountain-and-old-fort/ |access-date=December 7, 2022 |website=www.blueridgeheritage.com |archive-date=December 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221208000556/https://www.blueridgeheritage.com/itineraries/black-mountain-and-old-fort/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the 1950s the [[Supreme Court of North Carolina]] dismissed a case brought by students attempting to attend the all-white school in Old Fort. They were told to attend [[Hudgins High School]], a school for blacks, {{convert|12|mi|0}} away in [[Marion, North Carolina|Marion]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=1956-05-23 |title=Court Dismisses N. C. Negroes' School Plea |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-columbia-record-court-dismisses-n-c/148861391/ |access-date=2024-06-08 |work=The Columbia Record |pages=1}}</ref> 

In 1984, the town began free weekly Mountain Music concerts, held in the historic Rockett Building each Friday night downtown. They attracted large audiences and numerous musicians. In mid-2014, the organization that ran Mountain Music lost its arrangement with the building owner, and the weekly music shows ended after 27 years.<ref name="mountainmusic">{{cite web |author=McDowell News |date=July 22, 2014 |title=Tempers flare at Old Fort meeting about music program |url=http://www.mcdowellnews.com/news/tempers-flare-at-old-fort-meeting-about-music-program/article_c3d21e64-11db-11e4-bca0-0017a43b2370.html |access-date=December 23, 2014 |archive-date=February 1, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150201002828/http://www.mcdowellnews.com/news/tempers-flare-at-old-fort-meeting-about-music-program/article_c3d21e64-11db-11e4-bca0-0017a43b2370.html |url-status=live }}</ref>