New Echota - Cherokee Registry

New Echota
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New Echota
New Echota
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
New Echota Sign
Location:
1211 Chatsworth Hwy.
Nearest city:
Calhoun, Georgia and Resaca, Georgia
Coordinates:
34°32′27.24″N 84°54′33.48″W
Built:
1825–1849
Architect:
[1]
Cherokees
Architectural style: Domestic style architecture[1]
Governing body:
State of Georgia
NRHP Reference#: 70000869[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP:
May 13, 1970
Designated NHL:
November 7, 1973
[2]
New Echota was the capital of the Cherokee Nation from 1825 to their forced removal in the 1830s. New Echota is
3.68 miles north of present-day Calhoun, Georgia, and south of Resaca, Georgia. The site is a state park and an
historic site, and is designated as a National Historic Landmark.
The site is at the confluence of the Coosawattee River and Conasauga River, which join to form the Oostanaula
River, a tributary of the Coosa River. It is near to Town Creek. Archeological evidence has shown that the site of
New Echota had been occupied by ancient indigenous cultures before the Cherokee. Known to them as the Cherokee
town called Gansagiyi (abbreviated Gansagi), they renamed it New Echota in 1825 after making it the capital.
New Echota
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History
Prior to relocating to Gansagi and building there for New Echota, since 1788 the Cherokee had used the nearby town
of Ustanali on the Coosawattee River as the seat of the Cherokee people. It was established there in 1777 by
refugees from the Cherokee Lower Towns in northwestern South Carolina. That was the year in which Old Tassel
and several other Cherokee leaders were murdered while on an embassy to the State of Franklin. Warriors across the
frontier increased attacks on European-American settlers, in addition to the Chickamauga followers of Dragging
Canoe, who were already in the midst of the Chickamauga wars. Following the murders, Little Turkey was elected
chief of the Cherokee. They moved the seat of the council from Chota to Ustanali.
New Echota was named after Chota, the former capital of the Overhill Cherokee, which with the region of the
Overhill Towns had been ceded to the United States the year before. In the 1820s, the old capital had been enveloped
by the waters of Tellico Lake in Monroe County. "Chota" and "Echota" were later names for Itsati, the original
Creek name of the town. Itsati is the name that Hitchiti Creek call themselves. Chota is the Creek word for "frog."
Itsati/Chota had been a major Muskogean town in eastern Tennessee before they migrated south and west. It was
later occupied by the Cherokee.
A common English name for New Echota was "Newtown" or "New Town". These names are still used for the area
around the State Park. Later Anglo-American settlers called the area "The Fork" and "Fork Ferry."
By 1823 the government of the Cherokee Nation was meeting in New Echota.
On November 12, 1825, New Echota was officially designated the capital of
the Cherokee Nation. At that time, the tribal council also began a building
program that included construction of a two-story Council House, a Supreme
Court, and later the office (Printer Shop) of the first Indian language and
Cherokee newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix.
Here Elias Boudinot wrote and a printer laid out the first Native American
newspaper. Boudinot wrote it in English and Cherokee, using for the latter the
new syllabary recently created by Sequoyah. Private homes, stores, a ferry
and mission station were built in the outlying area of New Echota. The town
was quiet most of the year, but Cherokee Council meetings provided the
opportunity for great social gatherings. During these meetings, several
hundred Cherokees filled the town, arriving by foot, on horseback or in
stylish carriages.
The Cherokee Phoenix
In 1832, after Congressional passage of the Indian Removal Act, Georgia
included Cherokee territory in its Sixth Land Lottery, allocating Cherokee land to white settlers. The Cherokee
Nation had never ceded the land to the state. Over the next six years, the Georgia Guard operated against the
Cherokee, evicting them from their properties. By 1834, New Echota was becoming a ghost town. Council meetings
were moved to Red Clay, Cherokee Nation (now Tennessee). The United States urged the Cherokee to remove to
Indian Territory, in exchange for their lands in Georgia.
In May 1835, a small group of Cherokee (300–500 Cherokee known as Ridgeites or the Treaty Party) signed the
Treaty of New Echota in the home of Elias Boudinot. Signers included Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Andrew Ross,
a brother of John Ross, the principal chief. Struggling to preserve some rights for the Cherokee, they agreed to
removal in exchange for lands west of the Mississippi River, with the Cherokee to have sovereignty in that western
territory. Despite objections from John Ross to the US government, Congress ratified the treaty. The following year
Ross had the treaty invalidated, and settled a new one, but Georgia proceeded before that. The US government
encouraged the Cherokee to migrate west and eventually forced them out.
In 1838 the U.S. Army, under the command of Winfield Scott, began the forced removal of Cherokee from the state
of Georgia. A Cherokee removal fort was located at New Echota. It was called Fort Wool. The fort held Cherokee
New Echota
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from Gordon County, Georgia and Pickens County, Georgia until their removal. As the first group of Cherokee
began their exodus to Rattlesnake Springs, Cherokee Nation (4 miles south of Charleston, Tennessee), the Cherokee
from counties south and east of the area also were housed here.
New Echota Historic Site
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.
Council House, Supreme House, and Print Shop. Three of the
In March 1954, the archeologist Lewis Larsen from the
reconstructed buildings in New Echota, were originally owned by
Georgia Historical Commission and five men were sent
Cherokee.
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.
The monument on New Echota Historic Site honors the Cherokee
who died on the Trail of Tears.
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
New Echota
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]
Notes
[1] "National Register of Historical Places – Georgia (GA), Gordon County" (http:/ / www. nationalregisterofhistoricplaces. com/ GA/ Gordon/
state. html). National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 1970. .
[2] "New Echota" (http:/ / tps. cr. nps. gov/ nhl/ detail. cfm?ResourceId=1043& ResourceType=District). National Historic Landmark summary
listing. National Park Service. . Retrieved 2008-06-21.
[3] "National Historic Landmarks Program: New Echota" (http:/ / tps. cr. nps. gov/ nhl/ detail. cfm?ResourceId=1043& ResourceType=District).
. Retrieved 2007-11-23.
References
• Mooney, James. Myths of the Cherokee, 1900, reprinted 1995.
External links
• New Echota Historic Site (http://www.gastateparks.org/info/echota/), official site
• New Echota Historic Site (http://ngeorgia.com/parks/new.html), North Georgia
• Treaty of New Echota (http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/
9097/Echota.htm&date=2009-10-25+07:49:53)
• New Echota map (http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?address=1211+Chatsworth+Hwy+NE&
city=Calhoun&state=&zipcode=30701)
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Article Sources and Contributors
Article Sources and Contributors
New Echota Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=466824656 Contributors: Appraiser, Augwp, Backspace, Basilicofresco, BillFlis, Bluemoose, Bms4880, Brucetr6, CBM,
Catapult, Cculber007, Chris the speller, Dmadeo, Ebyabe, Elkman, Eoghanacht, EvKnight13, Gaius Cornelius, Gareth Owen, Gazpacho, GenQuest, GrahamHardy, Jllm06, Kaldari, Lvklock,
Natty4bumpo, Niagara, Parkwells, Pepsi2786, Pfly, PoccilScript, PrestonH, Roleplayer, Sam Hocevar, Stepheng3, Tabletop, Talamachusee, Tripredacus, Uyvsdi, WillC, Wykypydya,
Xenophon777, 16 anonymous edits
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors
File:NewEchotaSign.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:NewEchotaSign.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: User:SreeBot
file:USA Georgia location map.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:USA_Georgia_location_map.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Alexrk2
File:Red pog.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Red_pog.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Anomie
Image:newEchota.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:NewEchota.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Cculber007, MGA73, Sreejithk2000
Image:New Echota.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:New_Echota.jpg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Cculber007 at en.wikipedia
Image:TrailofTearsMemorial.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:TrailofTearsMemorial.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Cculber007
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