The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: August ninth, remembering the Cherokee's Red Clay.

Before Europeans arrived in America, the Nation of Cherokee Indians was spread across the southeast Appalachian Mountains. Settlers brought new forms of civilization, and the Cherokee tried to adapt. They formed an independent government with its capital in Georgia. It had its own language, constitution, and laws. In 1832, Georgia stripped them of their political sovereignty, so the Cherokee moved their capital across the border into Tennessee, to an area known as Red Clay, just east of Chattanooga.  

Only six years later, President Andrew Jackson decided Cherokee Indians had to leave their homelands to make room for white settlers and gold seekers. Over the objections of the Supreme Court, Jackson sent in federal troops to deport 17,000 Cherokee to the wilds of Oklahoma. Thousands died in route, and history remembers their forced migration as the "Trail of Tears."

The last days of the Cherokee Nation will be remembered tomorrow at Red Clay State Park, near Cleveland, Tennessee. On a 260-acre preserve where the chiefs once met, there's a replica of the open-sided wooden Council House, and a typical Cherokee farmstead. Films and exhibits in the Park's interpretive center tell the Cherokee tale in words and images. All weekend, Red Clay holds its annual Cherokee gathering, a celebration of the lasting lore and heritage of this resilient people. Visitors are more than welcome.

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