By A.J. Kaufman, Managing Editor
The official outdoor drama of the State of Tennessee concluded its 47th season a few days ago at Sycamore Shoals State Historic Park in Elizabethton. Occurring every weekend in June within the Fort Watauga Amphitheater, the production is presented by a local performers against the backdrop of Fort Watauga. “Liberty! The Saga of Sycamore Shoals” portrays the significant history of the region during the late 18th century.
Steve Darden, a lawyer and former Johnson City mayor, says he was drawn to auditioning and participating in the performance in 2019. Darden plays Charles Robertson, commissioner of the Watauga Association, and told the Business Journal he was “inspired to get involved” during a visit to the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia.
“I was surprised by the prominence the Watauga Settlement was given at the museum, from the establishment of government there in May 1772 to the resounding victory by the frontiersmen in the Battle of Kings Mountain in September 1780,” he said. “It struck me that “outsiders“ often give us more credit for our role in the creation of the United States of America than we give ourselves (which remains a regional trait).”
As the story unfolds, hunters and settlers begin leaving the protection of the English Colonies, crossing the Appalachian Mountains in violation of the British Proclamation of 1763. Families made their homes, formed a new government, traded and interacted with the Cherokee, and fought for the freedoms we enjoy today during the American Revolution.
The series of events that transpired at Sycamore Shoals were crucial to the Volunteer State and American history in the 18th century. Many believe these chapters in the nation’s westward expansion set the tone for several events that helped propel the erstwhile British colonies toward independence and a modern democratic form of government. The entire premise of Liberty! relates our region directly to the 250th anniversary the United States celebrates this month.
“We were part of the Revolution, for sure, fighting what Teddy Roosevelt called the turning point of the Revolutionary War at Kings Mountain,” Darden explained. “But we weren’t exactly charter members of the fledgling nation, given that none of the Wataugans signed the Declaration of Independence. Yet without Sycamore Shoals, there may have been no American creation story.”
Darden says that while the script of Liberty! doesn’t undergo major revision from one year to the next, our Semiquincentennial makes it especially pertinent.
“It’s a great time to take note of our area’s pivotal role in the young nation’s survival, even though we were beyond the 13 colonies that declared their independence from England and the tyrannical King George,” he added. “The people here, many of whom were Scots Irish and Irish, didn’t rely on taxation without representation to despise the Crown; their enmity was centuries in the making! The settlers who came to what is now northeast Tennessee sought economic self-determination, and in some cases, as is portrayed in Liberty!, were evading the law or other obligations back east.”
Considering the Watauga Association was created before the Declaration of Independence, this location was the first free and independent government on the North American continent.
On the banks of the Watauga River, Sycamore Shoals is also the place from whence the Overmountain Men — who came from North Carolina, Virginia, Sullivan County and present-day Carter, Washington and Greene counties — mustered and then marched to King’s Mountain, S.C. Once there, they fatally shot British General Patrick Ferguson and defeated the Tories under his command.
“It’s hard to believe that what is now northeast Tennessee was once the western-most part of the country, but during most of the War for Independence, we weren’t even part of the United States,” Darden said. “Ultimately, the settlers petitioned North Carolina for annexation and protection since they were under threat by both England and the Cherokee. As Liberty! reveals, the settlers of the Sycamore Shoals were under rather constant challenges and threats, which they faced through family, community, courage, free enterprise and faith.”
