Chieftains Museum facts for kids
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Chieftains Museum
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Chieftain House
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 Location in Georgia (U.S. state)
Location in the United States
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| Location | 501 Riverside Pkwy NE, Rome, Georgia |
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| Built | 1819 |
| Architect | Major Ridge |
| NRHP reference No. | 71000273 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | April 7, 1971 |
| Designated NHL | November 7, 1973 |
The Chieftains Museum, also known as the Major Ridge Home, is a special house in Rome, Georgia, United States. It was built around 1819 and was once the home of a very important Cherokee leader named Major Ridge. He played a big part in a difficult time for the Cherokee people.
Major Ridge was involved in signing the Treaty of New Echota in 1835. This treaty gave away the remaining Cherokee lands in the southeastern United States to the U.S. government. Major Ridge and a small group of Cherokee, called the Treaty Party, believed that the Cherokee would have to move anyway. They wanted to get the best possible agreement for their people.
Most other Cherokee leaders and people did not agree with Major Ridge and the Treaty Party. They did not want to give up their lands. After most of the Cherokee tribe was moved to what is now Oklahoma, Major Ridge and some others from the Treaty Party were killed. This happened because giving away the tribe's shared lands was seen as a very serious offense by the Cherokee people.
About the Chieftains Museum
Major Ridge's first house here was small and made of logs. It was built in a style called "dogtrot." A dogtrot house has two main rooms separated by an open hallway, or "dogtrot," under the same roof. Later, Major Ridge added to the house, closing in the open hallway and adding more rooms on each side. This turned it into the larger, two-story white house you see today.
This big house was the center of his busy 223-acre farm, called a plantation. His land stretched all the way to the Oostanaula River. He used the river to travel and to send his cotton to market.
In 1973, the Major Ridge Home was named a National Historic Landmark. This means it is a place of great historical importance to the United States.
Becoming a Museum
The Major Ridge Home was bought by a group called the Junior League of Rome to save it. In 1971, it was opened as a historic house museum and named the "Chieftains Museum."
In 2002, the National Park Service officially recognized the museum as a site on the "Cherokee Trail of Tears National Historic Trail." The Trail of Tears is the path the Cherokee and other Native American tribes were forced to take when they were moved from their homes in the Southeast.
The building is now called the Chieftains Museum / Major Ridge Home. The museum teaches visitors about Major Ridge and what life was like for the Cherokee people in the 1800s. You can learn about their culture and history. A part of Major Ridge's original land along the river is now part of Riverside Park in Rome, Georgia.
