Located near Sandy Hook in southern Marion County, the John Ford Home, also known as Ford’s Fort, is the oldest frontier-style structure in the Pearl River Valley. Located on a plateau about a mile and a half west of the Pearl River, it is less than a mile north of the Louisiana border. Although oral tradition in the Ford family speculates that the house was built by a Spanish squatter before 1792, most evidence suggests that it was built by Rev. John Ford soon after his arrival in the state during the first decade of the nineteenth century. The house served as an important territorial military post, inn, and post office as well as the site of historic events in the state’s history, including the Pearl River Convention and early Methodist assemblies.