“Friends and Fellow Citizens, We have met again in Gen. Council and greeted each other in friendship; for the enjoyment of this inestimable privilege on the present occasion, we are peculiarly indebted to the dispensations of an all wise Providence, whose omniscient power over the events of human affairs is supreme, and by whose judgements the fate of Nations is sealed.”
-John Ross, opening the last Cherokee National Council meeting, Red Clay, 1837
The visitors center at Red Clay illuminates nineteenth century Cherokee life in the early republic and details the federal removal policy and the 1838 military removal of Cherokees from eastern Tennessee. “The Cherokee Days” festival in August brings members of the Eastern Band here to demonstrate crafts and perform.
The Red Clay hub also provides access to nearby sites in the Chattanooga area: Ross’ Landing and the Brainerd Cemetery. At Ross’s Landing, Cherokee Principal Chief John Ross and his brother Lewis maintained a ferry and warehouse that became one of three major emigration depots during the Trail of Tears. Just downstream, Moccasin Bend, a National Landmark site, was important during the Civil War, the Trail of Tears, Dragging Canoe’s campaigns, and has been used by people for more than ten thousand years. Brainerd Cemetery remains witness to the mission and school of the same name.
This state historic area has been developed to preserve and commemorate the council grounds that served as the defacto capital of the Cherokee Nation from 1832 until 1837. The 260-acre park includes an interpretive center, reconstructions of the council building and a Cherokee farmstead, hiking trails, a picnic area, an overlook tower, and a 500-seat amphitheater. The focal point of the Red Clay park is the Council Spring, a large blue spring that issues more than a half-million gallons of water a day. In the early nineteenth century, the Council Spring was located in the midst of a dispersed community of Cherokee farmsteads known as Red Clay or Elawohdi, home to Charles Renatus Hicks, assistant principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. Beginning in 1816, Hicks hosted a series of national council meetings at Red Clay, establishing precedent for its later use. These general councils were often huge affairs; thousands of Cherokee citizens attended sessions and socialized at meetings that lasted days or weeks.
The OWC marries the best of the natural and artificial worlds. A sleepy river set in a lush, rocky river gorge, this section of the Ocoee was carefully modified into a channel to enhance its rapids. During the 1996 Summer Olympics, the Ocoee Whitewater Center opened its doors as a premier whitewater venue for athletes from all over the world.
Nancy Ward, the famed Beloved Woman of Chota, rests in a small hilltop cemetery overlooking the Ocoee River, where U.S. Highway 411 crosses near the ancient ford of the Warrior’s Path and the old Federal Road. Ward, an important councillor and diplomat for the Cherokee Nation, spent her last days at a nearby inn within sight of this cemetery. During her long life (ca. 1738 – 1822), Ward witnessed profound changes in Cherokee culture, and was herself both innovator and conservator of Cherokee tradition. Oral tradition indicates that Nancy Ward was born in the Overhill settlement of Chota around 1738, a niece of the ascendant leader Attakullakulla. She married Kingfisher (Tsula) around 1752, and bore two children before Kingfisher was killed in the 1755 battle of Taliwa against the Creeks. She was with Kingfisher when he fell, and picked up his gun to continue the fight until the Cherokees had won a decisive victory. For her courage and tenacity, she was awarded the title of “War-Woman,” a distinction that gave her an influential voice in the Chota council.
