Chattanooga is the county seat for Hamilton County
Birchwood is in Hamilton County
Hamilton County(606) ► ADJACENT TO HAMILTON COUNTY Bledsoe County(17) ► Bradley County(56) ► Marion County(31) ► Meigs County(31) ► Rhea County(29) ► Sequatchie County(5) ► Catoosa County, Georgia(813) ► Dade County, Georgia(16) ► Walker County, Georgia(371) ► Whitfield County, Georgia(85) ►
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On Birchwood Pike (Tennessee Route 312) 0.2 miles south of Sam Smith Road, on the right when traveling south.
Located one mile northwest, the cemetery contains 145 graves including those of two Revolutionary War Veterans, Thomas Palmer and William Moore.
Other early settlers of the area buried here include Maximilian Haney Conner (1806-1893) and . . . — — Map (db m150442) HM
On Blythe Ferry Lane (County Road 131) 1.3 miles north of Blythe Ferry Road, on the right when traveling north.
The Cherokees refused to emigrate and on May 26, 1838 the Army and civilian volunteers began the brutal roundup of the Cherokees. They captured men and women in their homes, farmers working in fields, and children at play. The captives were often . . . — — Map (db m165896) HM
On Hiwassee Highway (State Highway 60) 0.3 miles north of Birchwood Pike (State Road 312), on the right when traveling north.
A descendant of Mary Ann Roark Cross, "L.L." Fridell graduated from Grant Medical College, Chattanooga, 1902. He established his medical practice in Birchwood beginning in the horse and buggy days and spanning a period of more than 40 years. He . . . — — Map (db m39436) HM
On Birchwood Pike (County Road 605) 0.1 miles north of Grasshopper Road, on the right when traveling north.
Joseph Roark and wife, Juda Ann Carr Roark, were among the original settlers of Cherokee lands of East Tennessee, moving into this area from Claiborne County in the early 1830's. This homestead, constructed with walls of split walnut logs and with . . . — — Map (db m150441) HM
On Priddy Road (County Road 163) 0.9 miles north of Blythe Ferry Lane (County Road 131), on the left when traveling north.
Hiwassee Island and the Tennessee River – Hiwassee River confluence area were inhabited by groups of Native Americans for over 10,000 years until the early 1800’s. Between the 11th and 15th centuries A.D., prehistoric Native American . . . — — Map (db m165864) HM
On Blythe Ferry Lane (County Road 131) 1.3 miles north of Blythe Ferry Road, on the right when traveling north.
Indian and United States government relations were defined by treaties between sovereign nations and recognized as law by our Constitution. In exchange for land that became Alabama and Mississippi, President Thomas Jefferson made an agreement in . . . — — Map (db m165866) HM
On Birchwood Pike (County Road 605) 0.2 miles south of Eldridge Road, on the left when traveling south.
Joseph Roark gave this site in Wilderness Indian Territory for this Church where many worshiped God. Used as a hospital during Civil War, it was also the center of Salem Academy. A monument to Thos. Palmer and Wm. Moore, soldiers of the Revolution, . . . — — Map (db m150439) HM
On Blythe Ferry Lane (County Route 131) 0.8 miles north of Blythe Ferry Road, on the left when traveling north.
Witnessed a young Sam Houston, who gained favor with Chief Jolly on Hiwassee Island nearby, witnessed the Indian removal and countless events that shaped Meigs County, the State of Tennessee and points westward.
Commemorated in 2016 to . . . — — Map (db m165865) HM
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
