New Echota, Georgia (Forgotten City)

Steinhauer

Steinhauer

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Since I have some pictures of my visit to New Echota, I felt this was probably the best place to post my thoughts about my visit there.

Here is some background information:

New Echota Historic Site | Georgia State Parks

2013 is the 175th anniversary of the tragic Trail of Tears.

New Echota is one of the most significant Cherokee Indian sites in the nation and was where the tragic “Trail of Tears” officially began. In 1825, the Cherokee national legislature established a capital called New Echota at the headwaters of the Oostanaula River. During its short history, New Echota was the site of the first Indian language newspaper office, a court case which carried to the U.S. Supreme Court, one of the earliest experiments in national self government by an Indian tribe, the signing of a treaty which relinquished Cherokee claims to lands east of the Mississippi River, and the assembly of Indians for removal west on the infamous Trail of Tears.

Today, visitors can see 12 original and reconstructed buildings, including the Council House, Court House, Print Shop, Missionary Samuel Worcester's home, and an 1805 store, as well as outbuildings such as smoke houses, corn cribs and barns. In the visitor center, guest can purchase souvenirs, books, music, plus view interpretive exhibits and a 17-minute film. Nature trails leads visitors to New Town Creek and a small beaver pond.
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I will post more pictures, as well as more information in the following posts - some of you may find it very interesting as this city had a very significant SCOTUS ruling during the time of the Andrew Jackson (father of the Democratic Party). Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil & The Presidency . Education . Andrew Jackson: An American President . Jacksonian Democratic Party | PBS
 


The Cherokee had their very own newspaper printing press.

Cherokee receive their first printing press — History.com This Day in History — 2/21/1828

I snipped a portion of the article - more can be read at the link

Feb 21, 1828:
Cherokee receive their first printing press
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The first printing press designed to use the newly invented Cherokee alphabet arrives at New Echota, Georgia.

The General Council of the Cherokee Nation had purchased the press with the goal of producing a Cherokee-language newspaper. The press itself, however, would have been useless had it not been for the extraordinary work of a young Cherokee named Sequoyah, who invented a Cherokee alphabet.

As a young man, Sequoyah had joined the Cherokee volunteers who fought under Andrew Jackson against the British in the War of 1812. In dealing with the Anglo soldiers and settlers, he became intrigued by their "talking leaves"-printed books that he realized somehow recorded human speech. In a brilliant leap of logic, Sequoyah comprehended the basic nature of symbolic representation of sounds and in 1809 began working on a similar system for the Cherokee language.
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Ridiculed and misunderstood by most of the Cherokee, Sequoyah made slow progress until he came up with the idea of representing each syllable in the language with a separate written character. By 1821, he had perfected his syllabary of 86 characters, a system that could be mastered in less than week. After obtaining the official endorsement of the Cherokee leadership, Sequoyah's invention was soon adopted throughout the Cherokee nation. When the Cherokee-language printing press arrived on this day in 1828, the lead type was based on Sequoyah's syllabary. Within months, the first Indian language newspaper in history appeared in New Echota, Georgia. It was called the Cherokee Phoenix.
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pretty cool. definitely have to add this to my travel list.

is this really a "city"? it sounds like a little town of few hundred people.
 


The Cherokee also had sporting events. They had a game very similar to Lacrosse.
 
Jiro said:
pretty cool. definitely have to add this to my travel list.

is this really a "city"? it sounds like a little town of few hundred people.
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yes, it was actually the Capital of the Cherokee Indian Nation before their forced removal. (I will get to that later ;) )

The "weird" part about this - is most of the buildings there are not the original buildings. The Governor of Georgia decided to make this a historic site and dedicate it to the memory of the Cherokee who founded the city (it had been destroyed after their removal).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Echota

After the Cherokee were removed, their capital remained abandoned for more than 100 years. Much of New Echota disappeared, though some of the houses continued to be used. Most notable was the house of Samuel Worcester, called "the Messenger", a missionary to the Cherokee. When the then-current landowners deeded land to the state for preservation, the Worcester house, the largest remaining structure, had been vacant for two years. The wear of the elements in that brief time was apparent.

In March 1954, the archeologist Lewis Larsen from the Georgia Historical Commission and five men were sent to oversee the work of excavating New Echota. The team uncovered evidence not only of the Cherokee settlement in New Echota, but also of earlier American Indian cultures. They asked the National Park Service archeologist Joe Caldwell and two more workers to join them for the next two months as they continued excavation. The group recovered a Spanish coin dated 1802, crockery, household wares, bootery remains, a small quantity of lead, and 1700 other artifacts. They identified 600 items as having belonged to the Cherokee. In addition to the standard finds and remains of many buildings, Larsen and Caldwell astonished the world by discovering much of the type once used to print the Cherokee Phoenix.
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On March 13, 1957, following the news of Larsen and Caldwell's archeological finds, the State of Georgia authorized reconstruction of the town of New Echota as a Georgia State Park. They reconstructed such buildings as the Council House, the Supreme Court, the Printer Shop, a building of the Cherokee Phoenix, a Common Cherokee Cabin (representing a home of an average Cherokee family) and a Middle-Class Cherokee Home, including outbuildings. Vann's Tavern, owned by Chief James Vann is a restored building, with modern nails and replacement wooden parts. It was relocated from Forsyth County, Georgia (Chief Vann owned 14 taverns across the state of Georgia), as original New Echota Vann Tavern was destroyed. The park contains the site of the former Elias Boudinot house. The site serves as a memorial to Boudinot. The Worcester house was restored to its 19th-century condition. Together the buildings of the complex form an open-air museum.

Other sites are not open to the public, as they are now on private property. Across from the New Echota park are two farmhouse sites formerly owned by white men who had married Cherokee women. These sites are now part of Gordon County golf course.

The New Echota Historical Park was opened to the public in 1962. Inside the office of the Cherokee Phoenix were displayed 600 pieces of type, which had been used for the first American Indian newspaper. Later some type was moved to the museum and research facility which was built by the park. The Newtown Trail is a 1.2 mile interpreted trail that takes tourists to Town Creek (inside the center of New Echota), where the majority of the Cherokee had camped when the Council was in session. In 1973, the Department of Natural Resources, also known as Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites, took over New Echota Park and continues to operate and maintain this historic site.

The site is designated as a National Historic Landmark.[3]
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more info (there is so much, it may take me a while to post my thoughts):

http://digital.archives.alabama.gov/cdm/singleitem/collection/voices/id/2178/rec/16
 
I am going to have to continue this later - I have to upload pictures. :wave:

Here is the front lawn of the site of the original Worcester House:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Worcester

^ This link touches on the SCOTUS ruling - more on that later.
Despite this ruling, both President Andrew Jackson and the Governor of Georgia refused to enforce it.
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He was jailed because he refused to take part in the rampant discrimination of the Cherokee. A true "man of God" IMHO.


Worcester House:

 
I have been there many times. Go to see Springplace, the Chief Vann House too. Very nice indeed.
 





A U.S. Army Fort was built near the city for the specific purpose of removing the Cherokee by force.
 
(these pictures were taken by my i-phone at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC on May 16, 2013 - camera batteries died)

Why Guns?



LeMat Revolver (significance of this revolver? It was designed for the US Army to defeat Native Americans in the Texarkana War) This revolver was the most powerful revolver for nearly 100 years. It was designed to drop a charging horse.




Early Guns:









^ In emergency, break glass
 
Once I get photos gathered (give me some time) I would like to discuss what I have learned and hopefully, the photographs will make things more clear.

If you look at the photos above, you will see one gun that is gold. This is significant, and it the main reason the Cherokee were forcibly removed from their lands. It had to do with the discovery of gold.

White man's greed :(

 
This was a weapon used by the Cherokee to hunt deer called an atlatl




here is a youtube video showing how it was used:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPz7Az11mMg]Atlatl Hog Hunt Texas - YouTube[/ame]

As you can see by the video - missing meant no dinner. So the Cherokee were extremely skilled with this weapon.
 
New Echota was once a bustling city and was described as having a completely level ground in the midst of a rough mountainous region:



The Cherokee learned the agricultural trade, and grew fruit in orchards surrounding the city. The trade routes they used to different States are now modern paved highways.
 
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