Walker County
Historic Train Depot in
Chickamauga, GA
100 Gordon Street
Chickamauga, GA 30707
Explore the rich history of Walker County, Georgia! Visit the city of Chickamauga, which borders the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park—the nation’s first military park and site of the second bloodiest battle of the American Civil War. See the columned grandeur of the Gordon-Lee Mansion, home of North Georgia entrepreneur James Gordon and military headquarters of Union General William Rosencrans during the events leading up to the Battle of Chickamauga. Experience the county’s rich indigenous history from early settlement to the tragedy of Indian Removal. Visit Crawfish Springs Park and reflect on the story of the Chickamauga Cherokee, who settled the area during the late eighteenth century and used the spring as a valuable source of fresh water. Travel to Rossville and see the John Ross House—home of Cherokee politician and entrepreneur John Ross from 1817-1827. Walk the site of Fort Cumming in LaFayette, where hundreds of Cherokee men and women were interned before their forced march to Ross’s Landing and along the Trail of Tears to the Indian Territory of present-day Oklahoma. Visit the Chickamauga Historic Train Depot & Welcome Center for brochures and more information.
Crawfish Spring Park
At the intersection of Cove Road
and Euclid Avenue
in Chickamauga, GA
Crawfish Spring Park represents the original site of the modern town of Chickamauga, Georgia. Crawfish Town (or Crawfish Spring) was the first name given to the community by its original Cherokee inhabitants. Beginning in the late eighteenth century, a faction of dissident Cherokee known as the Chickamauga Cherokee seceded from the Overhill Cherokee towns and settled in the area. Around the turn of the eighteenth century, the Cherokee began to adopt a republican form of government. The Cherokee Nation was organized into eight administrative districts: Chattooga, Chickamauga, Coosawattee, Etowah, Hickory Log, Taquohee, Aquohee, and Amohee. Each district possessed a courthouse where local functions of government were executed, and the administration of justice was carried out. The courthouse for the Chickamauga district was located adjacent to the spring. The spring would have acted as a water source for the community, especially on days court was in session. During Cherokee Removal, the Cherokees who lived around Chickamauga were likely forcefully marched from their homes and interned at Fort Cumming in present-day LaFayette before beginning their journey along the tragic Trail of Tears to the Indian Territory of modern Oklahoma. After Cherokee Removal, Gwinnett County planter and businessman James Gordon moved to the site of Crawfish Spring and began construction of the Gordon-Lee Mansion in 1840.
Photo by David Tibbs
John Ross Park
200 E Lake Avenue
Rossville, GA 30741
Built during the first quarter of the nineteenth century, the John Ross House is a two-story log cabin, which served as the home of Cherokee politician and entrepreneur John Ross from 1817-1827. Located in present-day Rossville, the John Ross House provided Ross with a base of operations from which he could develop his economic interests at Ross’s Landing and grow his nascent political career as a leader on the Cherokee National Council. While residing at the home, Ross increasingly lived after the fashion of a southern planter—possessing hundreds of acres of farmland which was work by enslaved African labor. He also operated a ferry and warehouse at Ross’s Landing, which brought him considerable capital. By the time he relocated to the Head of Coosa (now Rome, GA) in 1827, Ross had become one of the richest men in the Cherokee Nation.
