Sequoyah

Yesterday I went on a therapeutic excursion with my parents to the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum. It was surprisingly educational. Sometimes my level of ignorance astounds me.

For example, did you know when Andrew Jackson ran for President, one of his policies was "Indian Removal"? Yep. He was a self-proclaimed "Indian hater." That began what became the Trail of Tears. The Native Americans were forced from their homes in Tennessee, Georgia, and a few other states in the southeast. Later, when Martin Van Buren became President, he attempted to extend the deadline for Indian Removal, to give Cherokees and others more time to relocate. The state of Georgia revolted, claiming infringement of states' rights. So, the plan continued.

Around the same vague couple of decades, Sequoyah worked hard on his Cherokee alphabet system. After about twelve years of tweaking and working, he finally had a completed system. He was nationally revered, and honored for his achievement. It was an amazing accomplishment creating the only original Native American written language. Cherokee newspapers were then published, and the Cherokees became literate in a relatively short amount of time.

But enough of my community college lecture. I thought these findings were fascinating. We walked into the museum entrance, located in Vonore, Tennessee. It was a beautiful setting, green hilly fields surrounded by trees and water. it was also a crisp day, with the first traces of autumn setting in. Some of the trees had just a twinge of color in the leaves. The museum itself was only three dollars per person, but the budget of this place was obviously very low. They had these "listening Phones", where you could push a button. Then, these little hand-held speaker phone thingys would crackle to life, and a somber-sounding narrator would tell an old Cherokee folk tale. These listening phone things were obviously early 70's era, which added to the hilarity.

After that, we went to a nearby park. It was amazing, and we walked four or five miles on a "Meadow Loop" trail, through woods, and a field. We saw several deer, and my Mom complained about the length of the trail. We were walking next to the lake, and it was so peaceful.

These are things that make me appreciate East Tennessee.