Wes and Jan see the US Wanderings and Side Trips

Cherokee Heritage Center Apr 29, 2008

Today we visited the Cherokee Heritage Center just south of Tahlequah, OK. It includes the Trail of Tears museum, the Rural Village, the Ancient Cherokee Village, an Indian Genealogy Research Center, and, of course, the museum store. We spent most of the day here. Everything is self-guided except the Ancient Village which is a guided tour. Admission to the museum gives you access to everything at the center. A lot of work and effort have gone into making this an excellent place to visit. Preference for jobs is given to the Cherokee people. They are dedicated to preserving their heritage.

The Trail of Tears museum is very well organized and you get a pretty good picture of the exodus of the Indians from the Southeastern US to Oklahoma. The Cherokees are the only indian tribe that had a written language. It was interesting that all signs etc. were in English, but also in the Cherokee language.

We visited the Research Center where patrons can trace their Indian ancestors. There were people working there who are experts in this area of research.

I enjoyed the Ancient Village tour the most. There were only two couples on the tour and our guide, Rachel, was very knowledgeable. An entire village has been reconstructed on this site, showing how the people lived, worked and socialized. There were demonstrations of the ancient crafts, such as making arrowheads, canoes from logs, basketweaving, bow and arrow construction. We were also taught about their religious beliefs and ceremonies (not in detail). Rachel showed us how to make the "rattles" that the women wear on their legs for dancing. The women are not allowed to sing, so they set the pace of the dance and make as much noise as they can with the rattles on their legs.

We also learned how to play stick ball. It was a game devised in ancient times to settle differences and take the place of war. A few people could be injured, opposed to many being killed. Sometimes the game lasted for days and would include whole tribes on a gigantic field. Today, it is played by women and men and to win you have to hit a fish on top of a 25 foot tall pole with your "ball" ( a rock covered with leather). We later saw two teams playing this game in town on a field that looked a lot like a soccer field.

After our tour, Rachel explained to us the Cherokee Nation and how it operates within the Oklahoma State Government. Very interesting.

There are other Indian Nation sites, museums etc. in this area and we will plan to spend more time here in the future.

Back at our campsite, the wind was fierce and the waves were washing up on the beach :-).