Chieftains Museum/Major Ridge Home — Attraction in Rome

I am a travel writer for National Park Planner and I visited the The Chieftains Museum, an official site of the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, in December, 2013. The house is the former home of Major Ridge, a Cherokee leader who headed the Treaty Party and signed the Treaty of New Echota in 1835 that gave all Cherokee lands to the United States in exchange for monetary compensation and land in Oklahoma. The home is located in Rome, Georgia and is open to the public on select days of the week. A small fee is charge to tour the museum house. A tour of the home takes about an hour.

Major Ridge had a number of Indian names growing up, but white men knew him as The Ridge. He acquired the military title of Major in 1814 while fighting with Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend against the Red Stick Creek Indians. He used the name Major as his first name for the rest of his life. His home was given the nickname of the “Chieftains House” by subsequent owners long after he moved, in reference to the fact that the house once belonged to a Cherokee chief.

In 1819, Ridge moved his family to a log cabin in Rome, Georgia, and this log cabin remains at the center of the house still standing today. Ridge developed a plantation, complete with slaves, and became rather wealthy. In addition to his plantation, he ran a ferry service across the Oostanaula River, which is located a short walk from the house. Once wealthy, a log cabin was out of fashion, but instead of tearing it down and building a new house from scratch, he covered the logs with weatherboard and painted it white to make it look like a white plantation house. Inside the museum home, the original structure is marked off with tape on the floor and in a few locations the weatherboard has been removed to show the original log structure. Ridge made other renovations and additions to the house until he moved to Oklahoma in 1837 under the provisions of the Treaty of New Echota. He was not involved in the forced march in 1838, having left voluntarily prior to the Trail of Tears.

The house stayed in private ownership until 1969, when the Celanese Corporation donated it to the Junior Service League of Rome. Celanese had been using the property as a residence for the manager of its local synthetic fiber mill. Additions to the house since Ridge left were made in 1863 and in 1923. Plans to restore it to its 1837 appearance are in the works, but $3 million is needed for the renovation. The property is currently owned by the nonprofit organizations, Chieftains Museum, Inc. It became an official stop on the Trail of Tears National Historical Trail in 2002, but it does not receive any funding from the NPS, only publicity, though an initial grant was given to analyze artifacts found in an early 1970s archaeological excavation on the property.

A complete tour of the house takes no more than an hour. The exhibits and artifacts in the house focus more on the house itself, and not Major Ridge or his connection to the Trail of Tears.

A knowledgeable lady at the front desk does give an introductory talk that focuses on Ridge and his part in the Cherokee story, but that’s as far as personal history goes, other than two exhibits on his son John and daughter Sallie. Visitors are free to walk around the house by themselves. A tour brochure explains the history of each room and how it relates to the original house.

Only a few acres of the original Ridge plantation are part of the museum grounds. After touring the house, guests can walk outside and down to the Oostanaula River.

For complete information and plenty of photos about the Chieftains Museum and other Trail of Tears sites, please visit my web...

UPDATE Oct 22 2016 visit - tried to visit this time on a Saturday, hoping that hours of admission are more constant on weekends. Unfortunately, we arrived to find that the museum was closed the entire day. I hope at some point the museum can resolve their resource and staffing issues and be open more. I would like to visit, but can't make this drive frequently. Perhaps the 2 colleges close by could help, even it is only by providing some history majors to help staff at times.

Review of Aug 10, 2016 visit - Chieftains Museum is supposed to be open Weds-Sat 10a-5p. We made sure the day we took off work for our tour of northwest Indian sites coincided with this schedule. Imagine our surprise when we arrived at 11.30a on Weds Aug 10 to see the museum closing. We were huffily told the museum was closing until 1p. Unfortunately, our schedule did not allow us to wait 1 1/2 hours. Hopefully we will be able to visit another time and review the museum. My advice is to make sure the museum will be open when you...

I visited the museum for a class and drove from Marietta. It took me about an hour and 15 bc of traffic. Although it is a long drive into the country, I enjoyed the scenery.

I was hoping to learn more about Native American territory, etc. However I was a little disappointed due to incorrect expectations. It is a self pace tour, but mostly touring the house and artifacts from Natives. It also includes a 9 min history video about the man Ridge and his work with Natives.

Great history on house/man, but able to learn this from a...