Stock Creek
Clinchport was the head waters of flat boat navigation on the Clinch River, just as Kingsport was on the Holston. Not only did pioneer loggers build massive log rafts here in the winter to catch the Spring Tide to float their logs to mills at Chattanooga; but settlers farther up the Clinch would bring produce downstream in dug out canoes called bateaux, and settlers up the Wilderness Trail that intersects the Clinch here would bring their produce in on horseback. Clinchport was this region’s point of entry into the Tennessee River System.
The Wilderness Road followed Stock Creek upstream from here. The mouth of the creek is in the flood plain below you. “Hair Buyer” Hamilton kept a journal of his trip in captivity down this trail and noted that his party forded Stock Creek seven times.
By 1789, John Wallen had built a cabin at the mouth of Stock Creek, and one morning, as Mrs. Wallen was opening the door, she was shot at and wounded by Chief Benge and his braves. She was able to bar the door, and her husband shot and killed the Indian closest to the cabin. The other Indians rushed the house and Wallen killed three more of them before they went away. The Wallens then took refuge in Carter’s Fort at Rye Cove.