Major Ridge moved into this home and two-hundred acre farm along the banks of the Oostanaula River around 1819 and lived here with his family during the tumultuous years that preceded the removal of the Cherokees from their native lands. A former warrior, Major Ridge became a leading statesman who rose to prominence and wealth in the Cherokee Nation. His home, farm, and lifeways exemplify the rapid changes that shaped his nation’s experience as Cherokees faced increasingly hostile state and federal policies.
Ultimately, Major Ridge broke with the majority of Cherokees and reversed his longstanding resistance to removal. He argued that “a great storm” was coming and that the only way to save the Cherokee Nation was to get out of its path. In December of 1835, he joined his son John Ridge and nephew Elias Boudinot in leading a minority faction in signing the Treaty of New Echota ceding all remaining Cherokee Nation land in the Southeast to the U.S. Government. Although never sanctioned by the Principal Chief or National Council of the Cherokee Nation, the Treaty of New Echota was ratified by the United States Senate on May 17, 1836. When most Cherokees refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the treaty, U.S. forces came into their homeland and forced them westward on a devastating journey that has since become known as the Trail of Tears. As he is said to have predicted when he signed the treaty, Major Ridge and his son and nephew paid the ultimate sacrifice. The three were killed by other Cherokees on June 22, 1839, in fulfillment of Cherokee law prohibiting unauthorized land sales.
The story of Major Ridge and Cherokee resistance and capitulation to government deportation will be preserved and interpreted for visitors at Ridge’s historic home and farm. A visit to this historic site will be a journey through history that yields sorrow as well as beauty. By gaining perspective on the past we may hope to build a vision for the future.
A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT
The Chieftains Museum / Major Ridge Home is a National Historic Landmark, a designation reserved for the most significant sites in America. As the only surviving home in this area of one of the two most influential leaders in the history of Cherokee removal, it is also a designated site on the congressionally-designated Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. While living in this home Major Ridge participated in the establishment of the Cherokee constitutional government with legislative, executive, and judicial branches. He served as Speaker of the Cherokee National Council, and counselor of the Cherokee Nation and was considered by at least some of his contemporaries to be the greatest orator of the Cherokee Nation.
While Ridge resided on this property, Georgia extended its laws over the Cherokee Nation and began surveying Cherokee land for distribution by lottery. Increasingly, the Cherokee people were abused by encroaching white settlement. In this farmhouse Ridge abandoned his lifelong resistance to removal and decided to negotiate a treaty with the federal government. The Chieftains Museum / Major Ridge Home has the unique potential to powerfully convey the story of Cherokee removal and the breach it caused among Cherokees who disagreed on how to respond to removal pressures. These momentous events had a profound effect on shaping the geography of the southeast and represent a very important chapter in both Cherokee and American history.
The Major Ridge Home is poised to become an historic site as significant as Colonial Williamsburg and Old Sturbridge Village in interpreting critical passages in our nation’s history. It is the quintessential educational and interpretive site for Cherokee removal history along the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.
Since 1969, Chieftains Museum has been educating individuals, families and the school children of Rome, Georgia on our site. In 2005, when fuel shortages caused field trips to be deferred, Chieftains took programming into the classroom, instructing over 2,300 students.
Through a partnership with the Atlanta History Center and a grant from the Georgia Humanities Council, as well as local corporate and private sponsorships, Chieftains was able to house the nationally acclaimed exhibition “Native Lands: Indians and Georgia” in 2005.
During the past few years, Chieftains has demonstrated a commitment to work closely with the governments of the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians by obtaining their input in the planning process, presenting their respected artists and craftspersons, and hosting the nationally-acclaimed Cherokee Nation History Course.
Chieftains is working closely with the National Park Service to increase educational reach. Funding has been awarded to assist in ongoing archaeological investigations of the historic property including a GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar) survey and much-needed analysis of previously excavated archaeological material. A major study has been conducted by the National Park Service to significantly enhance the long-term preservation and interpretation of Major Ridge’s home and farm.
Chieftains is also working with the City of Rome as a major venue along the Ross to Ridge Road Riverwalk. The Riverwalk will bring more people to the site, exposing them to the historical significance of Major Ridge and the Trail of Tears and enhancing the Major Ridge Home as an integral part of Rome’s current day culture.
In 2007, the Trail of Tears Association (TOTA) held its annual national conference in Rome. Rome was selected because of its political importance before Cherokee removal as the home of Cherokee leaders Major Ridge and his son, John Ridge, and Principle Chief John Ross. The conference will rightfully put Rome in the national spotlight as a significant location for teaching and preserving Cherokee History.
Since Major Ridge’s home was donated by the Celanese Corporation to the Junior Service League in 1969, significant donated capital has been invested in the home and grounds in order to open the Museum and to restore the various structures. This is in addition to the annual operating budget.
Through our partnerships with the National Park Service and others, we have a unique opportunity to elevate Chieftains Museum from a local museum to the nationally significant historic site it represents as the home of Major Ridge.
The National Park Service’s Historic Structures and Cultural Landscape Report indicated that the “Ridge Period” (1819-1837) is the primary period of historical significance for the home and surrounding landscape. To better interpret and convey this period in time, Chieftains’ has approved a long-range vision that creates a visitor experience centered on the historical significance of Major Ridge and his place in the larger context of U.S. Cherokee relations and Indian removal. The historic house and farm along with new interpretive and visitor facilities will fully immerse the visitor in the life and story of Major Ridge, U.S. Indian relations, and the tragedy of the Trail of Tears.
To realize this vision, the Major Ridge Home will be rehabilitated —removing all non-Ridge period features and finishes. The Ridge House form, massing, plan, appearance and detailing will be preserved or reconstructed to more accurately depict the home that Major Ridge left in 1837. To enhance the visitor experience, an interpretive center will be constructed to house exhibits, administration, support, restrooms and additional information about the larger context of the Ridge story. The interpretive center will allow the Ridge Home to serve as the central touchstone of the experience, possessing the power to instill a deeper appreciation of Major Ridge’s life and place in Cherokee acculturation and the ultimate tragedy of removal. Further interpretive as well as architectural planning and design will be completed prior to construction and implementation.
Complementing the house rehabilitation and the new interpretive center will be a renewed landscape, immersing visitors in an agricultural landscape that more closely resembles the farm that Major Ridge departed. By interpreting the agricultural landscape of the 1830s, the entire landscape and home will serve to create a powerful venue for visitors to understand and appreciate Major Ridge and his role in events of national importance.
The new historic site entrance, parking and Interpretative Center will be located north of the Home where visitor facilities will not distract from the experience of the historic house and farm. Other important interpretive features that will complete the visitor’s experience include exhibits at the Ridge Ferry site and orchards, gardens, and agricultural fields reintroduced throughout the property. Visitors will be transported to an authentic 1837 Cherokee farm and experience the sophisticated culture of the Cherokee leader’s home.
OUR FUNDING NEEDS
Chieftains Museum, Inc., a 501c 3 non-profit organization, is leading the effort to secure the funding needed to rehabilitate and preserve this cultural landscape. Although ambitious, the organization is seeking financial contributions to conduct a campaign and fund the complete vision. The fully realized historic site will include the Ridge Home, historic farm and landscape as well as newly constructed visitor Interpretive Center and facilities. This will be a multi-phase project. While the overall vision of Chieftains Museum, Inc. will not be compromised, it is necessary to prioritize the order of rehabilitation projects to match interpretive needs and financial capability.
Our goal is to secure the total amount needed through contributed funds so we do not leave the organization with any debt burden on its annual operations. We will seek these funds from individuals, the local business community, national grants and foundations, regional foundations, community organizations and agencies, as well as municipalities served by the Major Ridge Home. Additionally, the funding vision of the Chieftains Museum / Major Ridge Home is more than a “capital vision.” Legacy giving strategies for endowment growth and planned gifts are being incorporated into solicitation efforts.
501 Riverside Parkway, P.O. Box 373 • Rome, Georgia 30162-0373
Office: 706/291-9494 • Fax: 706/291-2410 • Email: info@chieftainsmuseum.org
Director: Claudia M. Oakes • Programs Coordinator: Debby Brown