Sep 7, 2012 2 min read

FARMINGTON — The Friends of Fort Necessity September Lecture Series is set for Sept. 12 at the Visitor Center of Fort Necessity National Battlefield.

The speaker for the evening is Tyler Boulware, associate professor of history at West Virginia University, where he teaches courses in early American and Native American history. The program begins at 7 p.m. in the theater of the Visitor Center.

The title of Boulware’s program is “The Disaffected People of Great Tellicao: The Struggle for Empire in a Cherokee Town.”

In the fall of 1756 the Cherokees undertook a diplomatic mission that thrust them into the heart of the French and Indian War, also called the Seven Years’ War.

Through the diplomatic maneuvering and subsequent political crises it ended with a stronger Anglo-Cherokee alliance that ultimately brought the British and Cherokees to the brink of war in 1759.

Growing up in South Carolina, Boulware hiked and camped in the southern mountains where he first learned of creeks and rivers with names like Tugaloo, Estatoe, Keowee and Toxaway. These are areas the lower Cherokee once called home.

Visitors attending this lecture will also have the opportunity to view a traveling exhibit about Cherokee culture and history now on display in the Park Visitor Center.

The display includes original artifacts from Cherokee villages, Cherokee artwork, 10 panels on Cherokee history and three short video programs. This exhibit was developed by the Museum of the Cherokee.

This program is sponsored by the Friends of Fort Necessity. It is free and open to the public.

The Friends welcome new members and will have a short meeting prior to the speaker.

Fort Necessity is located 11 miles east of Uniontown on Route 40, the National Road. For more information, call 724-329-4664. The Friends’ final event is the Legends program scheduled for Oct. 12 in the Mount Washington Tavern.