The Pickens County Historical Society is looking for a site near Lake Keowee to rebuild a 16th century fort whose remains are now under the lake.

Fort Prince George was built in what was then the Keowee Valley at the request of the Cherokee Nation, according to Preston Bruce of the historical society's Special Projects Group.

Bruce said he came up with the idea of rebuilding the fort last fall.

The fort was named after the Prince of Wales and in its day it served as a link between Charleston, Ninety Six and the Upper Cherokee lands, Bruce said.

The original site of the fort was flooded when Duke Power dammed the Keowee River to create Lake Keowee.

Bruce, who works at SunTrust Bank in Pickens when he's not involved in the fort project, said the Society is attempting to partner with individuals, groups and foundations to reconstruct the fort as close to the original site as possible.

An initial plan would have put the fort on land at Mile Creek County Park north of Six Mile, a site that overlooks the original site under the lake, but that plan fell through, Bruce said.

Now the society is talking with the owners of two other undisclosed sites, both within five miles of the original location.

Bruce said the society expects to reconstruct the fort in its entirety based on period drawings and the documented archeological footprint.

“This is a living history project that will be educational from inception throughout its duration,” Bruce said in a press statement.

The society hopes to draw from a similar effort in Tennessee, where the original Fort Loudoun was rebuilt after the Tennessee Valley Authority flooded the Little Tennessee River basin to create a reservoir.

That fort was rebuilt on the banks of the lake 30 years ago and is currently maintained through a private foundation and the state of Tennessee.

Bruce said the society's special projects group is creating some conceptual drawings of Fort Prince George and it is producing videos to help generate interest in the project.

The society also plans to launch a website this week with a link to the fort rebuilding project.