Founding of Cedartown

Founding of Cedartown. . The earliest known inhabitants in the Cedartown area were the Cherokee Indians, who had taken over the surrounding territory from the Creek Indians in the 1760's. Cherokee settlements in the area were known as Char'le Town, Cedar Town and Clean Town. By the 1820's white traders and scouts began to settle in the area, and trading posts were established near Tanyard Branch and the Big Spring. After gold was discovered in the northeast part of the state, Georgia pushed for the removal of the Cherokee Indian Nation by opening their land to settlement in 1832. As a result of land lotteries held by the state, white settlers streamed into the area. A post office was established in Cedar Town in 1833, and the First Baptist Church founded in 1835., The new settlers of Cedar Valley were rarely resisted by the Cherokee, but the lawless nature of the new settlements led to conflicts between bands of outlaws and settlers attempting to build new communities. One notorious band, called the “Pony Club,” terrorized white and Indian farmers alike. It was not until a group of settlers, called the “Slick Club,” challenged the Pony Club that a sense of law and order was obtained. As Cedar Town grew, pressure to remove the Cherokee from the State of Georgia mounted, and in 1838 Federal troops oversaw the forced migration of the Cherokee to new lands in what is now Oklahoma, known as the Trail of Tears., Residents began to lobby for the creation of a new county to serve the Cedar Town area. In 1851, Polk County (named for President James K. Polk) was formed and its county seat assigned to Cedar Town. With Cedar Town now requiring a new courthouse, Asa Prior, a planter with a substantial landholding near the original trading posts and Cherokee village, dedicated a tract of land in 1852 for establishing a courthouse and laying out of town plots. Cedar Town was incorporated February 8, 1854., [Captions] , . (Left) One of the earliest known photographs of downtown Cedartown, circa 1870, looking north along the Rome road. , . (Right, top) The Cherokee known as Chief Collard, photographed here with his two sons, lived in what is now called Collard Valley, northeast of Cedartown, before his forced removal on the Trail of Tears. He returned after the Civil War and presented this photograph to the Whatley family, who had settled near Chief Collard in the early 1830's. , . (Right, bottom) An engraving of the Big Spring, 1854 , Images courtesy of Polk County Historical Society