I always try to take advantage of a road trip to visit a historic location. We have loved visiting forts on the coast and when I looked up the town where we were headed for a wedding, I looked up points of interest in the area. I came across Fort Watauga at the Sycamore Shoals State Historic Area. The visitor center hosts a gift shop, a museum and the fort is built by the Watauga River. It is a reconstruction of the original one. There is a one mile loop trail that follows the river as well as an arboretum, a butterfly garden and an amphitheater where they would usually…