Cherokee Indians

More Articles

Essentials For Seeing The Smokies  Black Bears Cherokee Indians  Gatlinburg Community Cntr Roaring Fork Nature Trail  Hiking in the Smokies

They named the Smoky Mountain area "Shaconage," or "place of blue smoke" and enjoyed a progressively settled existence, relying heavily on agriculture.  However, throughout the 1700s and 1800s the encroachment of European settlers forced many changes in Cherokee life.

Sequoyah, a Cherokee silversmith, created a remarkable written language for his people in the1820s.  He devised a syllabary of 86 characters to represent every sound made in the Cherokee language.  Within two short years, the entire Cherokee nation had adopted the language and become proficient enough to publish their own newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix.  Unfortunately, the Cherokee Phoenix prove to be one of several ill-starred emulations of European settlers', customs, including a constitution, written legal codes and a supreme court.

Although the Cherokee did exist peacefully with early settlers, white men's greed for more land eventually forced the Cherokee people from their homeland.  The discovery of gold in the mountains of northern Georgia sealed the Cherokees' fate and in 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Removal Act, mandating the removal of all native peoples east of the Mississippi River.  Of nearly 16,000 Cherokee forced out, only about 12,000 survived the journey to Oklahoma, known as the Trail of Tears.

Some Cherokee refused to leave their home, hiding high in the mountains.  By 1889 the 56,000 acre Qualla Indian Reservation was chartered in North Carolina to serve as their home.  These Cherokee are known as the Eastern Band and continue to populate the reservation today.

Many opportunities exist to explore the Cherokees' rich culture.  The Museum of the Cherokee Indian houses many fascinating artifacts, some of which date from 10,000 years ago. At the Oconaluftee Indian Village visitors can step back in time to an authentic 1750s Cherokee community with working craftsmen and botanical gardens. The Cherokee Museum and Gallery is dedicated to showing special exhibits by native artists and the country's larges selection of handmade Native American arts and crafts can be found at the Qualla Arts & Crafts Mutual Special events, like fishing tournaments, powwows, festivals and more occur throughout the year.

During the 1800s and 1900s, there was much inter-marrying between Cherokee and non-Indian settlers which makes the genealogy research process even more difficult.   Some Cherokee desired to retain their Native American lineage and others did not.

Today, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has nearly 12,000 enrolled members and the Western Cherokee's rolls contain over 170,000 names.  While some genealogy records exist for the tribal members, it is nearly impossible to trace genealogy based on a single name which does not appear as part of  tribal records.