Cherokee Preservation Foundation

CHEROKEE HERITAGE TRAILS

Cherokee Heritage Trails (www.cherokeeheritagetrails.org) is one of the Blue Ridge Heritage Initiative's Web sites devoted to the culture of the southern Appalachians. Here visitors will find sites and events chosen by a task force of Cherokee people and project partners based on their significance in Cherokee history and culture and their accessibility by travelers. Ancient village sites, waterfalls, battlefields and places of myth and legend can be visited throughout the original Cherokee homeland. At some of these sites, museums, parks and historical markers interpret Cherokee history, while at others only the landscape tells their story. Partners in the Cherokee Heritage Trails include the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the North Carolina Arts Council and Tennessee Overhill Heritage Association.

EASTERN BAND OF CHEROKEE INDIANS

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is located in western North Carolina and is home to 12,500 enrolled members. The EBCI’s Web site (www.cherokee-nc.com) includes information about cultural attractions, genealogy, enrollment, and the great outdoors at Qualla Boundary, where the reservation is located.

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS

The history of the Great Smoky Mountains, the ancestral home of the Cherokee Nation, is explored on the American Park Network Web site at www.americanparknetwork.com/parkinfo/sm/history/. The site starts its story in 1000 A.D., when the people who were later called the Cherokee first arrived in the Smokies and describes how some Cherokee managed to avoid being sent on the Trail of Tears and stayed in the Smoky Mountains. A description of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is available at www.nps.gov/grsm.

JUNALUSKA MUSEUM AND MEMORIAL SITE

The Junaluska Museum and Memorial Site, located in Robbinsville, NC, at the burial site of Cherokee Warrior Junaluska, is dedicated to preserving Cherokee history and culture. Displays include arrowheads, spearpoints and other artifacts found in the Cheoah Valley, artwork and crafts produced by Snowbird Indian community members, and information about the valley and its place in American history as the starting point of the Trail of Tears. For more information, visit www.junaluska.com.

MUSEUM OF THE CHEROKEE INDIAN

To perpetuate the history, culture, and stories of the Cherokee people, the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee, NC, maintains a permanent exhibit, an extensive artifact collection, archives, education programs, artist series, and a gift shop. The museum also publishes the Journal of Cherokee Studies. The Museum of the Cherokee Indian opened in 1948 and moved to its present facility in 1976. Its exhibit was totally renovated in 1998, when a new 12,000 square foot exhibit was installed. For more information, visit www.cherokeemuseum.org.

OCONALUFTEE INDIAN VILLAGE

Presented by the Cherokee Historical Association, the Oconaluftee Indian Village is a glimpse of the past. Visitors see an 18th century replica of a Cherokee community, which includes a replica of a seven-sided Council House and typical homes from the period. Cherokee guides in native costume explain their history, their culture and the lifestyle of their ancestors as Cherokee artists demonstrate their arts and crafts. For more information, visit http://oconalufteevillage.com/.

SCOTTISH TARTANS MUSEUM

The Scottish Tartans Museum, which focuses on the Scots-Irish migration to North Carolina, also presents information about the interaction between the Cherokees and the Scots-Irish. For more information, visit www.scottishtartans.org.

SEQUOYAH BIRTHPLACE MUSEUM

The Sequoyah Birthplace Museum in Vonore, TN, a tribally owned and operated facility, presents historical and archaeological exhibits about the 18th century Overhill Cherokee towns and also features the life and accomplishments of Sequoyah, originator of the Cherokee syllabary. Sequoyah created a Cherokee system of writing although he was not literate. This stands as a unique accomplishment in world history. His system of 86 original characters represents each syllable of the Cherokee language. Within a short time of its acceptance by tribal council in 1821, most of the Cherokee nation became literate. For more information, visit www.sequoyahmueum.org.

TRAIL OF TEARS NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL

In 1838, the United States government forcibly removed more than 16,000 Cherokee Indian people from their homelands in North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia, and sent them to Indian Territory, today known as Oklahoma. The impact to the Cherokee was devastating. Hundreds of Cherokee died during their trip west, and thousands more perished from the consequences of relocation. This tragic chapter in American and Cherokee history became known as the Trail of Tears, and culminated the implementation of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which mandated the removal of all American Indian tribes east of the Mississippi River to lands in the West.

The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail commemorates the removal of the Cherokee and the paths that 17 Cherokee detachments followed westward. Today the trail encompasses about 2,200 miles of land and water routes, and traverses portions of nine states. The National Park Service, in partnership with other government agencies, non-profit organizations, and private landowners, administers the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/trte/index.htm.

UNTO THESE HILLS

Unto These Hills is the tragic and triumphant story of the Cherokee. Set against the backdrop of the Great Smoky Mountains in Cherokee, NC, the drama is presented under the stars and has been seen by over five million people since it opened a half century ago. The compelling story opens with the arrival of the Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto in 1540, and builds to a climax with the removal of all but a remnant of Cherokee on the infamous Trail of Tears in 1838. The drama recreates the inspiration of the great Sequoyah, the wise leadership of Junaluska, and the heartbreaking sacrifice of Tsali, who gave his life so a handful of people might remain on the land of their heritage. For more information, visit www.untothesehills.com/.

CHEROKEE HISTORY

Two Web sites that focus on Cherokee history can be found at http://cherokeehistory.com/index.html and http://www.tolatsga.org/Cherokee1.html. Much of the information on both sites was developed by Tsalagi historian Ken Martin. The first of these sites includes a link to another site that helps visitors research their Cherokee ancestry. In addition, the Cherokee Heritage Center in Tahlequah, OK, teaches visitors about the Cherokees’ history through a Trail of Tears drama, the Cherokee National Museum, a rural village that depicts life in the late 1800s, and a village that shows what a Cherokee community looked like before European contact (http://www.cherokeeheritage.org).

CHEROKEE LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Joshua Webster, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, has created an excellent Web site about Cherokee language and culture at www.angelfire.com/ks2/tsalagilanguage/index.html. The language part of the Web site addresses Cherokee syllabary and sounds, days of the week, numbers, family terms, food, animals, telling time and trees. It also describes the contributions of Sequoyah and enables readers to download the Cherokee font. The Cherokee culture portion of the site describes Cherokee baskets, houses, weapons, clothing, pottery, games, dances and clans.

CHEROKEE STORIES

According to an old Cherokee saying, “The world is full of stories, and from time to time they permit themselves to be told.” Eleven wonderful stories can be found at www.powersource.com/cocinc/articles/default.htm.