Cherokee Farmstead

Cherokee Farmstead. ᏣᎳᎩ ᏕᎦᏵᎡ. , Cherokee farmsteads varied greatly according to the wealth and the degree to which the family had adopted European ways. Each site, however, had three basic components: the living area, the cultivated fields, and the woodlands. The buildings replicated here represent a Cherokee farmhouse, barn, corncrib, and blacksmith shop., The Cherokee farmer who used a plow, was working to produce corn, the same crop his ancestors had tended with digging sticks and stone hoes. The earlier Cherokee family grew corn to insure themselves and their relatives of a winter food supply. , The nineteenth century Cherokee farmer grew corn not only for food, but to fatten pigs for sale on a competitive market. The Cherokee farmstead reflected change from group-oriented harmony to an individual struggle for wealth. This non-traditional urge to acquire and protect individually, owned private property contributed to the sweeping social and political changes in Cherokee life during the first quarter of the nineteenth century., [Captions:] , Traditional Cherokee food include nuts, seeds, berries, and the three sisters crops com, beans, and squash.