Cherokee Townhouse
As we scour through the events of 1758 in this year of 2022, we wonder what the center of Cherokee business looked like? Over a 1000 warriors in different groups and sizes came up from the Smokies to Fort Loudoun Winchester VA. Let us take a look at their town, and the center of their business there.
"Cherokee villagers weighed matters of import in their townhouses, the centers of community life. A townhouse was a conical rotunda, as large as sixty fee in diameter. The roof's central high point stood thirty feet above the ground. From there it sloped down and out, extending to low, wattle and daub walls at the building's perimeter. The roof consisted of layered poles, cane, bark, soil and grass, all supported by eight interior posts. On the south side, a narrow, winding entryway led to a small door, which in turn opened into a large, circular amphitheater.
This was where village politics unfolded. As many as six hundred tribespeople could congregate here, seated by clan on benches, mats, or carpets woven from ash or oak splints. A large fire burned at the center of the room for such gatherings, the smoke venting through an opening in the roof.
War and peace chiefs sat near the fire, and to their left and right, all other men and women of rank, whose opinions carried equal weight."
Source:
Pages 90-91 Carolina in Crisis: Cherokees, Colonists, and Slaves in the American .Southeast 1756-1763 By Daniel J. Tortora, published by the University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2015.
This townhouse is claimed to have been in Chota.
Chota was the overall "federal" capital of an indigenous nation of many independent parts.
Was this indigenous nation a wandering people?
No. They had towns. They farmed. And they hunted.
And they were trapped in trade.
Or were they trapped in trade?
As we are today?
An interlocking polyglot society codependent?
Debt and being indebted certainly runs this show.
See about the triangle of debt and trade in the Cherokee and White trader world here:
That's it.
That's our lead story.
There's more.
There's always more.
Skip around.
Read bits and pieces below.
Compiled and authored by Jim Moyer 7/10/2022
Sources and Related links:
Sources that the author above used:
Timberlake, Memoirs, page 17
Bartram, Travels, 366-369
Gerald F Schroedl, Overhill Cherokee Architecture and Village Organization
Rogers and Duncan, Culture, Crisis and Conflict, pages 69-70
Boulware, Deconstructing the Cherokee Nation, pages 14-15
About that Townhouse picture?
Gerald F Schroedl shows location of that huge townhouse.
The townhouse is located in Chota.
Touch or Click on picture to enlarge.
See this link:
Chota was the overall "federal" capital of an indigenous nation of many independent parts.
From that link:
This drawing depicts the layout of Chota or Echota, an 18th century Overhill Cherokee village. It shows a central village plaza with both a circular winter council house and rectangular summer council house, which were used for public, social, and political events. Shown also are domestic dwellings with the same set-up, a circular winter house alongside a rectangular summerhouse. Also drawn are areas of dense refuse-filled pits. Archeological studies by the University of Tennessee from 1969 -1974 indicate that in the mid -1700's Chota had a population of around 300-500. There were approximately 60 domestic houses surrounding the village plaza that extended along the river for about a mile. Chota was recognized by Europeans as well as other Indians for its powerful social and economic influence and was regarded as the capital of the Cherokee nation. The excavations were conducted under contract with the National Park Service and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Principal investigator, Alfred K. Guthe. Field Directors, J. Worth Greene, Duane H. King, and Gerald F. Schroedl. Digital image and encoded transcription of an original manuscript, scanned, transcribed and encoded by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Libraries in 2000, as part of GALILEO, funded in part by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
More Links:
Map of where that townhouse was in Chota
The townhouse at Chota
Links for further research
(PDF) European Trade Goods at Cherokee Settlements in ... https://www.academia.edu › European_Trade_Goods_a... This paper describes European trade goods from the Cherokee settlement at the Coweeta ... 2009 Overhill Cherokee Architecture and Village Organization.
TVA Archaeology: Seventy-five Years of Prehistoric Site Research https://books.google.com › books Erin E. Pritchard, Todd M. Ahlman · 2009 · History Schroedl, Gerald F. 1975 Archaeological Investigations at the Harrison Branch and Bat ... 2008 Overhill Cherokee Architecture and Village Organization.
ARCHITECTURAL SYMBOLISM AND CHEROKEE ... - JSTOR
https://www.jstor.org › stable
by CB Rodning · 2010 · Cited by 21 — themselves were architectural manifestations of Cherokee towns. The architectural symbolism of ... thanks to Gerald Schroedl for comments about Cherokee.
mounds, myths, and cherokee townhouses in - JStor https://www.jstor.org › stable by CB Rodning · 2009 · Cited by 56 — This paper explores the role of public architecture in anchoring Cherokee communities to particular points ... Gerald Schroedl, personal communication.
(PDF) European Trade Goods at Cherokee Settlements in ... https://www.academia.edu › European_Trade_Goods_a... This paper describes European trade goods from the Cherokee settlement at the Coweeta ... 2009 Overhill Cherokee Architecture and Village Organization.
cherokee townhouses: architectural adaptation to european http://www.tulane.edu › ~crodning › naa_rodning... PDF hand, this structure was rather different than late prehistoric and historic Cherokee ... Before traveling to Tanasee, Chicken visited the Overhill Cherokee. 113 pages
Cherokee Towns and Calumet Ceremonialism in Eastern ... https://www.cambridge.org › american-antiquity › article by CB Rodning · 2014 · Cited by 12 — Baden, William W. 1983 Tomotley: An Eighteenth-Century Cherokee Village. ... Schroedl, Gerald F. (editor) 1986 Overhill Cherokee Archaeology at ... Cherokee Ethnogenesis in Southwestern North Carolina http://www.rla.unc.edu › Publications › NCAC30 PDF Schroedl, Gerald F., editor. 1986b Overhill Cherokee Archaeology at Chota–Tanasee. University of Tennessee,. Department of Anthropology Report of Investigations ... The Role of Town and Clan in Cherokee Spatial Understanding https://www.researchgate.net › publication › 236822237_... Schroedl, Gerald F., 'Overhill Cherokee Household and Village Patterns in the Eighteenth Century' in MacEachern, Scott, Archer, David J.W., and Garvin, ...
Center Places and Cherokee Towns : Archaeological Perspectives ... http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et › bitstream PDF lachian archaeology, such as David Moore, David Hally, Gerald Schroedl, Jon ... Overhill Cherokee settlements in east ern Tennessee (Chapman 1985, 2009;.
Guide to the Preparation of - CiteSeerX https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu › viewdoc › download PDF by PA Moore · 2009 · Cited by 3 — Gerald F. Schroedl , Major Professor ... members included Brian Burgess, Jerry Dugan, Tyler Howe, ... century Cherokee Overhill villages along the lower ... Kelly Ervin Thesis1.pdf - Auburn University https://etd.auburn.edu › bitstream › handle PDF by K Ervin · 2014 · Cited by 1 — 2009 Overhill Cherokee Architecture and Village Organization, in Culture, Crisis and Conflict: Cherokee British Relations 1756–1765, Anne F.
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