Footsteps of the Cherokees : A Guide to the Eastern Homelands of the Cherokee Nation

The presence of the once-powerful Cherokees is still evident throughout the southeastern United States in names like Chickamauga, Hiwassee, Chattahoochee, Unicoi, Oconee, and Tuscaloosa. For those interested in learning more about the rich heritage of the Cherokees by visiting their historic sites, the second edition of Vicki Rozema's Footsteps of the Cherokees: A Guide to the Eastern Homelands of the Cherokee Nation is an excellent guide. In the early 1800s, the Cherokee Nation reached from western North Carolina to middle Tennessee, and south to northern Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. Then, in 1838, thousands of Cherokees were forced to leave their farmlands, homes, and sacred sites during that infamous trek to Oklahoma, the "Trail of Tears." Rozema traveled over 4,000 miles and spent four years and close to 2,500 hours visiting, researching, and photographing the sites of the Cherokee Nation. Footsteps of the Cherokees is a guide to these scenic, cultural, and historic locations. The book is divided into two sections. In the overview, Rozema traces the history of the Cherokees from their prehistoric ancestors to their interaction and conflict with white explorers and settlers to stories of the few who remained behind after the forced march west. This information puts the 190 sites listed in the book into historical perspective. The second section focuses on the sites themselves. The sites are divided into nineteen areas named after central locations. The starting locations include Chattanooga, Knoxville and Maryville, Atlanta, the Blue Ridge Parkway, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Northeast Georgia, Northwest Alabama, and South Carolina. The coverage of each site includes a discussion of the area's history, background information, detailed directions, hours of operation, entrance fees, and important phone numbers. The book includes over 200 black-and-white photographs. Take an afternoon or weekend and travel back in time to the glory days of the Cherokee Nation. Whether in your car or favorite armchair, Footsteps of the Cherokees will take you to the great tribe's hunting grounds, battlegrounds, sacred lands, homelands, birthplaces, and burial sites. Vicki Rozema is the author of Cherokee Voices: Early Accounts of Cherokee Life in the East and Voices from the Trail of Tears and Voices from the Trail of Tears. The first edition of Footsteps of the Cherokees received an Award of Merit from the Tennessee Historical Commission in 1996. Also an acclaimed photographer, she is a history professor at the University of Tennessee. Footsteps of the Cherokees has been recognized as an outstanding guide since it received an Award of Merit from the Tennessee Historical Commission in 1996. This new edition covers 190 Cherokee sites in five southeastern states?Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama?as well as in border areas of Kentucky and Virginia. Users of this guide can visit the sites where the Eastern Cherokees built their towns and held their councils; where they fought the British, the Americans, and other Native Americans; where they were educated at mission schools; where they signed the treaties that ceded their land; and where they were gathered and imprisoned before their forced migration westward on the Trail of Tears. Footsteps of the Cherokees begins with a historical overview of the Cherokee Nation. The remainder of the book divides the Cherokees' eastern homelands into nineteen geographic areas. Sites range from Moccasin Bend in Chattanooga, Tennessee, one of the most important archaeological complexes within an American city, to the Qualla Boundary in North Carolina, home of the Eastern Band, where visitors can still experience the historic Cherokee culture. This second edition also includes more than a dozen new sites. For each site, author Vicki Rozema provides historical background and updated directions, hours of operation, and contact information. She also illustrates the text with over two hundred black-and-white photos that give a real feel for Cherokee country. Written for both travelers and those interested in Native American culture, this guide offers a look at significant sites in the rich history of the Cherokees

Footsteps of the Cherokees divides the Cherokees' eastern homeland into 19 geographical sections and explores many of the historic Cherokee sites in these areas. Sites range from Moccasin Bend in Chattanooga, inhabited by Cherokees and earlier Indian cultures and considered one of the most important archaeological complexes within a United States city, to the Qualla Boundary, the home of the Eastern Cherokee reservation, where visitors can still experience the historic Cherokee culture. For each site, Rozema gives historical background, directions to the site, and the hours of operation and telephone numbers if the site is located within a park or museum area. The book also includes an overview of Cherokee history that sets the stage for the tours of the historic sites.

The first edition received an Award of Merit from the Tennessee Historical Commission.

The principal people Prehistoric Native Americans Cherokee life and customs The arrival of the white man The Spanish expeditions The Cherokees and their neighbors The French and British influence Conflicts with the settlers The rise of Nancy Ward and dragging canoe The Watauga settlement Violence on the frontier Federalization and Christianization of the Cherokees The Cherokees rebuild The Creek War and the emergence of Andrew Jackson John Ross and the Cherokee Nation The Cherokee government formalizes The rise of John Ross The mounting pressure to move west The Treaty of New Echota and the Trail of Tears The Eastern Cherokees rebuild The Cherokees who remained behind William Thomas and the Cherokees in the Civil War The Cherokee reservation. This book divides the Cherokees' eastern homeland into 19 geographical sections and explores many of the historic Cherokee sites.