Chieftains Museum

At some point in the 1790s, the Cherokee Indian known as The Ridge (later Major Ridge) built a two-room "dogtrot" cabin on the Oostanaula River just east of the confluence of that river with the Etowah River (a point known as Head of Coosa, and later Rome, Ga.) and began operating a ferry. Subsequently, he built a larger house on the spot and became a very successful planter. The house was later expanded with a second floor. Ridge lost his property after the Cherokee Land Lottery, later emigrating to the Cherokee Territory in what would become Oklahoma. In 1928, the house and property were purchased by American Chatillon Co. The company's successor -- Celanese Fibers Corp. -- donated the property to the Junior League of Rome in 1969. Two years later, the League opened Ridge's former home as the Chieftains Museum, which has a variety of displays and artifacts to tell the story of the area's history -- especially its Cherokee legacy.

Photo by Ed Jackson

(c) Carl Vinson Institute of Government, the University of Georgia

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