CHEROKEE HISTORY IN WALKER COUNTY

Homeland, Culture, Removal, and Life Today

Explore the history of the Cherokee in Walker County through an eleven-panel exhibit at the Museum of LaFayette. Beginning with the region’s earliest Native inhabitants, the exhibit introduces visitors to the Cherokee homeland and the communities that lived, farmed, traded, and governed here. Familiar places—including McLemore Cove, Crawfish Springs, and Rossville—help connect this history to the landscape around us.

Learn about Cherokee homes, Three Sisters agriculture, and the changes brought by trade, new technologies, and missionaries. Discover the stories of influential Cherokee leaders, including John Ross, Major Ridge, and Sequoyah, alongside figures with connections to Walker County. Historical documents, maps, and images offer a closer look at the people and events that shaped the region.

The exhibit also examines Georgia’s land lotteries, the Treaty of New Echota, and the forced removal of Cherokee people in 1838. A panel devoted to Fort Cumming explores LaFayette’s role in this history and the stockade where Cherokee families were confined before being taken from their homeland.

The story continues beyond removal. The final panel introduces the Cherokee Nation today, its government, and its ongoing work to preserve Cherokee language and culture. Together, the panels invite visitors to better understand Walker County’s past and recognize the Cherokee as a living people whose history and heritage continue today.