When visiting Fort Defiance, there are several pieces of original art painted by Johannes Oertel and Laura Lenoir Norwood, who studied art in New York, encouraged the artists to come to North Carolina. You can see original portraits by Mr. Oertel in various places in Lenoir and at Fort Defiance. Johannes Adam Simon Oertel Mr. Oertel was born in modern day Bavaria in 1823 and immigrated to New York City. Mr. Oertel traveled across the Southern United States until the last 18