|
|
CHIEF VANN HOUSE Built by Cherokee Chief James Vann in 1804 (34 years before the "Trail of Tears"). He was killed in 1809, and his son Joseph inherited the home. In 1834 the Georgia Guard seized his properties and awarded them to a white land lottery winner. Georgia, in its battle to take over lands belonging to the Cherokee Nation, had passed many laws against the "Indians." One stated it was illegal for a white man to work for an Indian. Unaware of this new law, "Rich Joe" (known as such because of his great business successes) Vann fell prey to it when he hired a white overseer. Forced from their home on a cold March day, he and his family made their way to a farm he owned in what is now Tennessee. Special Notes: |
||
|
|
In 1819 President James Monroe
stayed at the home with Joseph Vann and his family while visiting the south.
In the late 1820s, gold was
discovered in the Cherokee Nation in what is now the northwest part of Georgia
increasing the boldness of the whites. Interior paint colors were selected
by Vann to represent the sky (blue), the trees and grass (green), harvested
fields (yellow), and the Georgia clay (red earth). After much litigation, the federal government paid the Vanns, in the 1840s, for property taken by Georgia. The confiscation included: |
||
|
|
|
