Protecting the Past, Preserving the Future

Chieftains Museum/Major Ridge Home is a National Historic Landmark and one of only a few private entities to be certified by the National Park Service as a site on the Trail of Tears. There are forty-five such sites in Georgia and only seven north of Atlanta. Major Ridge, whose old home Chieftains now occupies, was one of the signers of the Treaty of New Echota, which resulted in the forced relocation of the Cherokee people.

Transformed into a museum in 1971, Chieftains Museum is owned by the Junior Service League of Rome, Inc. and operated by Friends of Chieftains, Inc. which is committed to telling the story of the house while preserving the site for future generations. On October 29th, 2002 Chieftains Museum announced its participation with the National Park Service as a site on the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.

Chieftains Today

At the core of the house is a two-story “dogtrot” log cabin that once served as the home of prominent Cherokee leader Major Ridge and his family. The house has grown significantly since Ridge’s departure and important examples of Northwest Georgia architecture can be seen in the various additions to the structure. It is the connection with the Cherokees, however, that gives the site a prominent position in America’s history.

Today, the museum presents interpretive exhibits (permanent and temporary), educational programs, and special events that pertain to the Ridge family and Cherokee history and culture. In recent years, the Floyd County Master Gardeners have worked hard to create The Major Ridge Demonstration Garden. The garden features trees, shrubs, and raised beds to demonstrate the types of plants native to our area, those used by Native Americans, and those that were grown on the Ridge farm to provide visitors to the campus with a “living” classroom. Our campus also includes a replica ferry (similar to the one Major Ridge would have operated on the Oostanaula River), an archaeological dig site, and a small orchard.

Meet our staff and Board of Directors

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.