As we passed from Arkansas into Oklahoma, the difference in the terrain became very apparent. Instead of fertile farmlands with farms, silos and windmills, we now had large areas of open land with no signs of farming. Occasionally we saw cattle grazing in the fields. We passed through small towns with magnificent views since we could see for miles around.
We were a little concerned about our next destination, Cherokee Landing State Park outside of Tahlequah, because we had been unable to reach anyone by phone. A call to another Oklahoma state park assured us that Cherokee Landing was open, so we decided to take a chance. We arrived and were happy to see the park was open and about half full. We were delighted with our site, overlooking beautiful Lake Tenkiller, with a concrete pad, 50 amp service and water. Our first day here we decided to explore the town of Tahlequah and do some geocaching as that seems an excellent way to explore a new area. Our experience has been that geocaches often take you to places you would not ordinarily discover.
Tahlequah was founded in 1838 as the capital of the Cherokee Nation. It is also the home of Northeastern State University. One of the really neat things about the town is that all the signs are written in English as well as Cherokee. If the name sounds familiar to any of you, it is featured in the book, “Where the Red Fern Grows” by Wilson Rawls. It was also voted one of the Top 100 Best Small Towns in America.
Sequoyah, a Cherokee who created a syllabary which made it possible for the Cherokees to read and write.
All signs in the town are in English and Cherokee. Muskogee is another name for the Creeks, a Native American people from the southeast.
We also visited the site of the Cherokee nation capital building, built in 1867. On the front lawn of the building we found a mini Statue of Liberty, which was dedicated in 1950 by the Boy Scouts “as a pledge of everlasting fidelity and loyalty”. Throughout the town while geocaching we found several beautiful murals.
When we arrived back at our campsite Bill went outside the take some sunset pictures and came back in to tell me there was a bald eagle in a tree right across from our campsite. We went outside and watched him for quite awhile. It is not everyday that you get that close to a bald eagle!
The next day we went to the Cherokee Heritage Center which included a Cherokee National Museum, a Tsa-La-Gi Village, and a Cherokee Genealogy Library. Bill spent quite a few hours researching his Cherokee heritage, without much luck to his disappointment. We took a guided tour of the Tsa-La-Gi village which was quite interesting. Among many things we learned:
- the village consisted of seven clans,
- how they solved conflicts using stickball competitions which is similar to lacrosse,
- how to make arrowheads and blowguns.
We learned that Cherokees were very resourceful in taking worthless items such as European smoothbore trade guns which they took apart and made into many items they could trade and use in their everyday lives. The Cherokee Museum contained many interesting exhibits, including a fascinating one on the Trail of Tears.
The museum is located at the site of the original Cherokee female seminary which was opened in 1851 and destroyed by fire in 1837. These three columns are all that remain of the original building.
This monument is dedicated to the Cherokees who lived before 1907. The top of the monument has the names of the 7 clans.
