I'm heading up to north Georgia this morning for an event, but decided to make a couple of site-seeing stops along the way. First, I decided to visit New Echota, which I have passed the sign for many times and always had an interest in seeing, but never stopped until today. New Echota was the short-lived Cherokee Nation capital from 1825 until about 1838, when the remaining Cherokee were forcible removed from their homes and to reservations in Oklahoma along the Trail of Tears. In the late 1950's after some archaeological digs in the area, several of the structures were rebuilt to their historical state and the area was set aside as a state historical park. It should be noted that one building, the Worcester House, was still standing from the time of the Cherokee, but had been remodeled multiple times over the decades.
As I walked around the historical log cabins and other structures, I couldn't help but think of this community as equal to or greater than other towns I have visited representing this time frame. My meaning here is that if one didn't know that this was a Native American community, it could not be differentiated from any other town of the time. To think of the Cherokee as savage or lesser than the European usurpers that stole their land and decimated their culture, is simply inaccurate. These were modern people living in modern (for the time, that is) homes and inhabiting a modern community. It's a great scar on the honor of the United States that we treated these people as we did.
I spend about half-an hour wandering around the town. Approximately a dozen buildings have been restored and are spread out across a few acres, though this is a poor representation of the once 4,000 buildings that once made up the town. It's humbling to walk among history like this and I wish I could spend more time, but I have someplace to be and I must move on for now.
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