The presence of the once-powerful Cherokees is still evident throughout
the southeastern United States in names like Chickamauga, Hiwassee,
Chattahoochee, Unicoi, Oconee, and Tuscaloosa. For those interested in
learning more about the rich heritage of the Cherokees by visiting their
historic sites, the second edition of Vicki Rozema's Footsteps of the
Cherokees: A Guide to the Eastern Homelands of the Cherokee Nation is
an excellent guide.
In the early 1800s, the Cherokee Nation reached from western North
Carolina to middle Tennessee, and south to northern Alabama, Georgia,
and South Carolina. Then, in 1838, thousands of Cherokees were forced to
leave their farmlands, homes, and sacred sites during that infamous trek
to Oklahoma, the "Trail of Tears." Rozema traveled over 4,000 miles and
spent four years and close to 2,500 hours visiting, researching, and
photographing the sites of the Cherokee Nation. Footsteps of the
Cherokees is a guide to these scenic, cultural, and historic locations.
The book is divided into two sections. In the overview, Rozema traces
the history of the Cherokees from their prehistoric ancestors to their
interaction and conflict with white explorers and settlers to stories of
the few who remained behind after the forced march west. This
information puts the 190 sites listed in the book into historical
perspective. The second section focuses on the sites themselves. The
sites are divided into nineteen areas named after central locations. The
starting locations include Chattanooga, Knoxville and Maryville,
Atlanta, the Blue Ridge Parkway, Great Smoky Mountains National Park,
Northeast Georgia, Northwest Alabama, and South Carolina. The coverage
of each site includes a discussion of the area's history, background
information, detailed directions, hours of operation, entrance fees, and
important phone numbers. The book includes over 200 black-and-white
photographs.
Take an afternoon or weekend and travel back in time to the glory days
of the Cherokee Nation. Whether in your car or favorite armchair,
Footsteps of the Cherokees will take you to the great tribe's hunting
grounds, battlegrounds, sacred lands, homelands, birthplaces, and burial
sites.
Vicki Rozema is the author of Cherokee Voices: Early Accounts of
Cherokee Life in the East and Voices from the Trail of Tears and
Voices from the Trail of Tears. The first edition of Footsteps of the
Cherokees received an Award of Merit from the Tennessee Historical
Commission in 1996. Also an acclaimed photographer, she is a history
professor at the University of Tennessee.
