Cherokee National Museum

The Cherokee Nation — Cherokee Heritage Center located in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. It is the heart of Cherokee tribal history, cultural and art.
In 2013, the Cherokee National Historical Society has celebrated 50 years as one of Oklahoma’s most enduring and prominent Native American institutions. As part of the year-​long celebration, the Cherokee Heritage Center has held several events that has promoted the legacy of the Cherokee people.

A nice museum. Don’t expect a city museum when you go. It’s not nearly that big. You can get through the museum in a half-​day if you visit everything. The museum focuses specifically on the Trail of Tears. It is informative, sad, and interesting. I must admit that my rating is a little biased since I have a little Cherokee blood in my family, but anyone should enjoy it.

Definitely one of the best museums in Oklahoma and the best tribal museum I’ve ever been too (even better than the Saginaw-​Chippewa museum). It’s a living museum and hub of cultural events — classes, gospel sings, storytelling, honoring dinners, the place is alive!
The museum itself and museum store are great. The genealogy department is the single best place in the world to trace your Cherokee ancestry. They have a turn-​of-​the-​century town, Adams Corners and complete with Cherokee farm animals, that actually includes 19^th century buildings taken from other areas and preserved and restored here.
The new 17^th century is being built right now, preserving the beautiful seven-​sided council house. The grounds are great for picnics and birdwatchers. Due to the diversity tree species (chosen to represent all the trees traditional important to Cherokee life), the woods surrounding the building are a paradise for different species of woodpeckers.
Check the museum’s calendar because there are always a great variety going on all year, except January, when the museum closes.

A former classmate from high school, who happenes to be in the military, got so upset when I «liked» a paper that stated US soldiers have and could again put US citizens in internment camps and we should be on guard. This classmate said the US has never locked up its own citizens and would never do such things; to say different would make me a conspiracy theorist. Errrrrr. WRONG.
There’s a forgotton Holocaust — an American tale. We all know about the Jewish internment camps in Germany and Poland, and the Japanese internment camps here in the USA during WWII, but how many people know of the internment camps for the people of the Five Civilizied Tribes during the 1830 – 40’s right here in America? Unless you grew up in the south, or are part Native American, chances are, you don’t know about the Trail of Tears and the death camps.
Back in early April, my grandparents, now ex-​husband and I drove down to Tahlequah to visit Tsa-​La-​Gi. It was so nice to go through the living history tour which has a replica village and then another replica town (post ancient Cherokee village) with a schoolhouse, church, etc. Because it wasn’t summer and still really cold out, there weren’t people cooking and playing games. Our tour guide demonstrated games, archery and a bunch of other cool stuff during the tour. He was really personable and funny.
Inside there is both ancient and modern (1500’s-1800’s) Cherokee clothing, pottery, weapons, etc. I liked the pottery stamps that you could color in the museum (sorta like when you put a leaf under paper and color over it to get the impression.)
Past the previously mentioned things in the back of the museum, I learned things I never knew. I always wondered why my Cherokee ancestors didn’t put themselves on the 1900’s Dawes Rolls — you have to be on it to be apart of the modern day tribes. My grandpa told me that if you were put on the rolls, you were basically a ward of the government. You had no property anymore or rights. You were basically no better off than a slave. You can’t buy your freedom when the government has you by the neck. I learned more here as to why my ancestors hid out in the Ozarks rather than lose all the had to the Government.
On the wall are the accounts of eye-​witness accounts of people watching a soldier bayonette a pregnant lady who fell on the trail, of the diseases and starvation that were rampant both on the trail and in the camps. It was absolutely stomach turning. I took a picture of every single wall board with information on it. Horrific.
This is definitely a place, just like the Holocaust museum in D.C., that people NEED to see. We must never get too careless or too delusional to think that this stuff doesn’t or can’t happen again by our very capable government. We can forgive but we won’t foolishly forget or ignore what our own government has done to its own people.
If you want an eye-​opening history lesson, COME HERE.

The museum is ok inside, but the best part is outside. There’s a lot of history there, and there is also a reaaaaly nice amphatheatre where they have some good performances. They also have a replica Cherokee village like the old villages in Georgia before europeans came over. They have people out there who demonstrate different traditional trades and crafts and you get to try your hand at it on some things. It’s a great place for learning and entertainment and a combination of the two.