Chief White Path’s Cabin
By SHERRI SMITH BROWN
Georgia > Northeast Georgia Mountains > Hall County > Gainesville
Located to the Northeast Georgia History Center, the cabin where Cherokee Chief White Path was born and raised pays tribute to an Indian leader who was betrayed by his friend, President Andrew Jackson.
The history of Native Americans who once roamed the rolling piedmont of Georgia is one that ends sorrowfully. One story that only adds to the poignancy is that of Cherokee Indian Chief White Path. White Path was born in 1761 near present day Ellijay and grew up in a cabin. His Cherokee name, Nunna-tsune-ga, translates literally as “I dwell on the peaceful (or white) path.”
In 1814, White Path joined General Andrew Jackson to fight the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in Alabama. It is said that White Path and Chief John Ross swam across the Tallapoosa River and stole the Creek canoes prior to the battle, cutting off their escape by water, and ensuring a victory for Andrew Jackson.
Over the next two decades, White Path, who was a skillful orator, protested the influence of white settlers and spoke out against it in fiery oratory at the Cherokee capitol of New Echota. A strict follower of the traditional ways, he railed against the new Cherokee constitution as well as the introduction of Christianity by the missionaries. Eventually, he had to yield to the new ways. His new focus became fighting the removal policies of his old comrade and now president, Andrew Jackson.
Denouncing the removal treaty, White Path and Chief John Ross traveled to Washington to try to prevent the State of Georgia’s takeover of Cherokee nation land. Although Georgia had already dispersed the land in the 1832 Land Lottery, it is said that President Jackson told his old friend White Path, “You shall remain in your ancient land as long as grass grows and water runs.”
But it was not to be. White Path and other Cherokee leaders realized that their best chance for survival lay in an orderly march to Oklahoma. In the fall of 1838 at the age of 77, White Path helped to organize the removal, later known as the “Trail of Tears.” On a stop near Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Chief White Path died and was buried beside Chief Fly Smith who also died during the night.
Today, the 18th century cabin where White Path grew up has been restored and relocated to the Northeast Georgia History Center. White Path’s parents built the c. 1780 cabin, and during White Path’s time, it consisted of a single room downstairs with a loft above. In the land lottery of 1832, the State of Georgia awarded the cabin and the land it was on to the Pinson family who were white settlers. The Pinsons later added a dogtrot central hallway and another room downstairs. They also extended the loft into a full story under the eaves to bring it to the full size that it remains today.
Chief White Path’s cabin, interpreted as a Cherokee farmstead c. 1835, has authentic furnishings and vegetable and herb gardens typical of a Cherokee home just prior to the removal.
Read more about Native American History in Georgia, Chief John Ross, New Echota, and the Northeast Georgia History Center, or find other activities in the Northeast Georgia Mountain Travel Region here at Brown’s Guides.
Tags: Cherokee Indians, Chief John Ross, Chief White Path, museum, Native Americans, Northeast Georgia History Center, President Andrew Jackson, Trail of Tears