Day 21

Our last pix from Red Top Mountain, Georgia

 We were on the road at 8:45 AM, heading north to Georgia’s Fort Mountain State Park which is about 50 miles south of Chattanooga.   It was raining this morning so we decided to just have cereal and juice in the van,  then pick up some coffee an everything bagel and a raspberry scone in nearby Cartersville.  

Continuing north, our next stop was the settlement of New Echota, which was the capitol of the Cherokee Nation.  The Cherokee were a peaceful people who quickly adopted and assimilated most of the customs, names, speech, dress, housing, government, and religions of the European settlers.  

The settlement of New Echota resembled many other communities in the United States in the 1800’s.  The Cherokee developed a written language, they had a newspaper, and a court system.  Touring the buildings of the restored village was no different than touring through Sturbridge Village in central Massachusetts.

The Cherokee Nation was recognized and operated as an independent country inside the United States.  However, in response to a continual series of treaty revisions and violations, the Cherokee sued the US government and won!  The lawsuit ended up in the US Supreme Court whose Chief Justice was John Marshall. Despite the fact that the Cherokee won the lawsuit President Andrew Jackson refused to honor the decision, and ordered US troops to enforce resettlement of all Cherokee people to Oklahoma.

The forced migration of the Cherokee to Oklahoma, which started in the fall of 1835, was known as the Trail of Tears.  Approximately 15,000 Cherokee started the 800 mile journey by foot, horse, wagon, and boat, but over 4,000 died along the way due to disease, exposure, and starvation.

In Georgia, the abandoned lands. farms, homes, and possessions were distributed to new settlers via a lottery!  The original village of New Echota was completely abandoned and essentially disappeared until it was rediscovered by archaeologists in the 1950’s.

This is the home of one of the most successful Cherokee, Chief James Vann, a businessman whose 1000 acre plantation employed over 100 Black slaves.  Vann was considered one of the wealthiest Americans of his time.  He was murdered, most likely by a disgruntled Cherokee who believed Vann was corrupt and taking bribes in order to agree to treaties that none of the Cherokee people supported.

Vann Plantation 

Leaving New Echota, our next stop was the town of Dalton where we had a fabulous lunch, probably our best meal of this trip, at “Cyra’s Simple Goodness”.

Knowing our dinner would be at the campground, Joni and I went big, sharing an appetizer, a mango curry burrata:  fried burrata (cheese( served over mango, cranberry and curry chutney, and accompanied with grilled stiratto bread.

My main dish was shrimp and zucchini fettuccine:  house made zucchini noodles tossed with a fresh chili garlic beurre blanc and served with grilled shrimp, spinach, corn, and peppers.

For a main dish, Joni chose a fried green tomato BLT with thick cut Nueske bacon, iceberg lettuce and a jalapeño bacon jame on grilled stiratto bread, served with Yukon Gold roasted potatoes.

We continued our splurge, sharing an Indian bread pudding with strawberries, raspberries, and whipped cream!

Leaving Dalton, which appeared to be a very prosperous and charming small city, we made one stop to take some pictures of the Vann Plantation, and then headed into the mountains to our campsite for the evening at Fort Mountain State Park.  The park, elevation 2500 feet, is nestled among the thick forests of the  southern Appalachians, very close to the southern end of the  Appalachian Trail at Springer Mountain.  This was our 4th or 5th visit to Fort Mountain….obviously we love it.