Near Blythe Ferry Road, 2 miles north of Hiwassee Highway (Tennessee Highway 60), on the right when traveling north.
In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act. It ended the century long treaty relation that had defined Anglo-American, Cherokee relations. The debates that preceded the removal legislation set off fierce debates. Public opinion . . . — — Map (db m39497) HM
Near Blythe Ferry Road, 2 miles north of Hiwassee Highway (Tennessee Highway 60), on the right when traveling north.
As they trudged westward, the parties that left Blythe's Ferry in the early fall of 1838 endured lingering health problems from diseases, such as diarrhea, dysentery, measles, and whooping cough, which began during their long stay in stockades. . . . — — Map (db m39538) HM
Near Blythe Ferry Road, 2 miles north of Hiwassee Highway (Route 60), on the right when traveling north.
The Cherokee people made their homes in the river valleys that spread out of the southern Appalachian Mountains. They claimed a domain that stretched across present-day North and South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama. They also claimed hunting . . . — — Map (db m39494) HM
Near Blythe Ferry Road, 2 miles north of Hiwassee Highway (Tennessee Highway 60), on the right when traveling north.
In addition to losing their land to the American government, many Cherokees fell prey to robbers and thieves who operated near the camps and along the roads leading west. "We are now about to take our final leave and kind farewell to our native . . . — — Map (db m39532) HM
Near Blythe Ferry Road, 2 miles north of Hiwassee Highway (Tennessee Highway 60), on the right when traveling north.
In hopes of avoiding bloodshed, American military leaders made one final appeal to the Cherokee people. It contained both promises of protection and threats of doom. The President, as well as Congress, have decreed that you should remove from . . . — — Map (db m39499) HM
Near Blythe Ferry Road, 2 miles north of Hiwassee Highway (Tennessee Highway 60), on the right when traveling north.
During the 18th century, Cherokees worked hard to defend their homeland from invasion by Anglo-Americans. The nature of Cherokee politics - dispersed and locally defined - often hampered unified resistance to the invaders. In 1809, the Cherokee . . . — — Map (db m39495) HM
Near Blythe Ferry Road, 2 miles north of Hiwassee Highway (Tennessee Highway 60), on the right when traveling north.
Although American legislation declared an end to Cherokee sovereignty, most of those remaining in the Nation continued to resist. In December 1835, however, a small party of Cherokee signed the Treaty of New Echota. The agreement promised that the . . . — — Map (db m39498) HM
Near Blythe Ferry Road, 2 miles north of Hiwassee Highway (Tennessee Highway 60), on the right when traveling north.
Cherokees! The President of the United States has sent me with a powerful army, to cause you, in obedience to the treaty of 1835, to join that part of your people who have already established in prosperity on the other side of the Mississippi. . . . — — Map (db m39491) HM
Near Blythe Ferry Road, 2 miles north of Hiwassee Highway (Tennessee Highway 60), on the right when traveling north.
Moving the thousand's of people and about 5,000 horses and 500 wagons across the Tennessee River at Blythe's Ferry proved slow. Some crossings took as long as three days. "I reached Blythe's ferry on Sunday evening last, and found the great body . . . — — Map (db m39536) HM
Near Blythe Ferry Road, 2 miles north of Hiwassee Highway (Tennessee Highway 60), on the right when traveling north.
Beginning on May 26, 1838, soldiers began rounding up Cherokee women, men, and children. They showed little concern or respect for families or their property. In the first days, confusion abounded as soldiers and militiamen gathered individuals . . . — — Map (db m39530) HM
Near Blythe Ferry Road, 2 miles north of Hiwassee Highway (Tennessee Highway 60), on the right when traveling north.
In the spring of 1838, American military forces evicted the Cherokee Nation from its homeland. Nearly 16,000 women, men, and children - including nearly five hundred Muskogee Creek Indians, and slaves belonging to Cherokee owners -- were forced from . . . — — Map (db m39492) HM
Near Blythe Ferry Road, 2 miles north of Hiwassee Highway (Tennessee Highway 60), on the right when traveling north.
"The Trail of Tears was a tragedy for a progressive and independent people whose population was markedly decreased as a result of the hardships associated with lengthy confinements and a lengthy arduous journey. The forced Removal left an . . . — — Map (db m39540) HM
Near Blythe Ferry Road, 2 miles north of Hiwassee Highway (Tennessee Highway 60), on the right when traveling north.
The detachments approached Walden's Ridge within days of leaving Blythe's Ferry. The climb up the mountain proved difficult. Supplying food to both people and animals became a major problem. Particular hardship accompanied the climb up Walden's . . . — — Map (db m39537) HM
Near Blythe Ferry Road, 2 miles north of Hiwassee Highway (Tennessee Highway 60), on the right when traveling north.
Both the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the Treaty of New Echota aimed to accomplish removal through voluntary emigration. Such efforts largely failed and by 1838 only about 2,000 Cherokee affected by the treaty had moved west. For those remaining, . . . — — Map (db m39493) HM
Near Blythe Ferry Road, 2 miles north of Hiwassee Highway (Tennessee Highway 60), on the right when traveling north.
Both the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the Treaty of New Echota aimed to accomplish removal through voluntary emigration. Such efforts largely failed and by 1838 only about 2,000 Cherokee affected by the treaty had moved west. For those remaining, . . . — — Map (db m39529) HM
On Blythe Ferry Road, on the right when traveling north.
One of the worst acts of "man's inhumanity" took place when an entire race of peoples were driven from their lands in 1838. It was here at Blythe Ferry that approx. 9000 Cherokees and Creeks camped while waiting to cross the Tennessee River on their . . . — — Map (db m39469) HM
On Hiwassee Highway (State Highway 60) 5 miles south of Rhea County Highway (U.S. 27), on the right when traveling south.
Around 1809, William Blythe, a Cherokee, established a ferry at this site to provide transportation for the settlers to the west and the Cherokees to the east. During the 1838 Trail of Tears, it was an important crossing, and it played a military . . . — — Map (db m62612) HM
On Hiwassee Highway (State Highway 60 at milepost 2), 4 miles north of Birchwood Pike (State Road 312), on the right when traveling north.
Around 1809, William Blythe, a Cherokee, established a ferry at this site to provide transportation for the settlers to the west and the Cherokees to the east. During the 1838 Trail of Tears, it was an important crossing, and it played a military . . . — — Map (db m39468) HM
Near Blythe Ferry Road, 2 miles north of Hiwassee Highway, on the right when traveling north.
Nine detachments ranging in size from 729 to 1,766 individuals began crossing the Tennessee River at Blythe's Ferry in October, 1838. Cherokee leaders, called conductors, Hair Conrad, Elijah Hicks, Reverend Jesse Bushyhead, Situwakee, Captain Old . . . — — Map (db m82269) HM
Near Blythe Ferry Road, 2 miles north of Hiwassee Highway (Tennessee Highway 60), on the right when traveling north.
Throughout the spring and summer of 1838 Principal Chief John Ross and a group of Cherokee delegates negotiated with the United States War Department to take control of conducting the parties west. Just as the first groups departed under United . . . — — Map (db m82270) HM
Near Blythe Ferry Road, 2 miles north of Hiwassee Highway (Tennessee Highway 60), on the right when traveling north.
By the beginning of the 19th century, many Cherokee had adopted many white ways of living. They built American type farms, wore American style clothes, developed American style systems of government and began buying African slaves to work on . . . — — Map (db m82271) HM
Near Blythe Ferry Road, 2 miles north of Hiwassee Highway (Tennessee Highway 60), on the right when traveling north.
General Winfield Scott followed John Wool (1836-1837) and William Lindsay (1837-1838) as commander of Federal troops in the Cherokee nation. Scott arrived at New Echota, Cherokee Nation on April 16, 1838 and assumed command of the "Army of the . . . — — Map (db m39454) HM
Near Blythe Ferry Road, 2 miles north of Hiwassee Highway (Tennessee Highway 60), on the right when traveling north.
Sir The several detachments of Emigrating Cherokees under the charge of Messrs. Hair Conrad, Elijah Hicks, John Benge, Jesse Bushyhead, Sitewakee, James D. Wofford, Stephen Foreman, & Moses Daniel having signified their readiness for the road will . . . — — Map (db m39535) HM
Near Blythe Ferry Road, 2 miles north of Hiwassee Highway (Tennessee Highway 60), on the right when traveling north.
Upon arrival in the western territory, the Cherokee emigrants settled among several thousand Cherokee Old Settlers. Relations proved rocky and a generation of conflict followed. Despite the tensions the Cherokee began to rebuild their lives and . . . — — Map (db m39539) HM
On Blythe Ferry Lane, on the left when traveling north. Reported missing.
This old road bed echoes back to 1838 for a nation of peoples that walked here, not by choice, but by force. Each agonizing step by thousands of people, horses and wagons etched a trench between August and November in 1838. No turning back, their . . . — — Map (db m178070) HM
On Vernon Street at Gennoe Avenue, on the right when traveling south on Vernon Street.
The Methodist Church became active in this area after 1820 when the Tennessee Conference authorized activity among the Cherokees of the Hiwassee District and established the Hiwassee Circuit with Thomas Paine as pastor. Á church located to the . . . — — Map (db m184591) HM
On Main Street at East Memorial Drive, on the left when traveling north on Main Street.
Dedicated to the honor of the men of Meigs County who served in defense of our Country in World War I and II.
World War I
Albert Burton •
James F. Collins •
Charles Fitch •
Ben Gates •
Sam Mason Hall •
James Oscar Huff •
Grundy . . . — — Map (db m165901) HM
On State Highway 58, 1 mile south of Cameron Road, on the right when traveling south.
About 1 mile east, at the mouth of Agency Creek, the U.S. Agency for the Cherokees was located from 1816 to 1821. Here, on July 8. 1817, Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson, Governor Joseph McMinn, and David Meriwether, U.S. Commissioners, concluded a treaty . . . — — Map (db m150444) HM
On William Jennings Bryan Highway (State Highway 30) 0.1 miles west of Dearmond Road, on the right when traveling west.
About 1807, Conley Hastings established a ferry at this site. Originally, it provided transportation between the town of Washington to the west and the Cherokee Territory to the east of the river, and later between the Rhea and Meigs County seats of . . . — — Map (db m150311) HM
On Main Street at East Memorial Drive, on the left when traveling north on Main Street.
Union Gen. William Rosecrans's Army of the Cumberland, pushed back into Chattanooga after the disastrous Battle of Chickamauga on September 19-20, 1863, found itself short of food and ammunition. Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg besieged the city and . . . — — Map (db m165900) HM
On Tennessee Route 60, 1.3 miles north of Tennessee Route 58, on the right when traveling north.
Early 19th Century Methodist revival meetings were held 300 yds. SE on the farm of Thomas Palmer, Jr. Later, David Campbell gave 1¼ acres to the Hiwassee Cumberland Presbyterian Campground and Church October 1, 1844. Troops bivouacked here during . . . — — Map (db m73931) HM
