Town of Bellefonte AL334
The Alabama Legislatre established Riley's on Mud Creek as a voting site 5 days after Jackson County was created on December 13, 1819. Shortly thereafter, Stephen Carter and George W. Higgins purchased James Riley's 640 acre Cherokee reserve. According to local history, Carter and Higgins renamed Riley's on Mud Creek to Bellefonte after the spring which served as the town's wate supply and sold lots in the town. On December 15, 1821, the Alabama Legislature incorporated 60 acres in Bellefonte. Six years later, the Legislature extended Bellefonte's corporate limits to include 100 acres of land donated to the county by Carter and Higgins. Bellefonte was selected as Jackson County's first permanent seat of justice and a two story, brick courthouse was erected in 1828.

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Pioneer Cemetery TX12117

Tradition holds that Captain A.M. Curry suggested the name for the Pioneer community, established in 1883. Bill Smith became its first Postmaster in 1885. The burial here of Mrs. S.A. Briggs (believed to be Catherine P. Owsley Briggs) in 1879, however, predates the community development. Landowners William L. and Mary Ann (Hampton) Browning formally deeded the site in 1906 for use as a burial ground for the largely agricultural settlement. An oil boom in the 1920s brought thousands of new residents. By the 1940s, oil production waned, and the railroad, as well as the majority of settlers and businesses, left the area. Over the years, additional land donations have enlarged the cemetery. Pioneer Quilting Club members served as long-time caretakers, raising funds for cleaning and for a war memorial placed in 1948 to commemorate area soldiers killed in World Wars I and II. Among the others buried here is Catherine Martin O'Neal Lovett, a Cherokee survivor of the Trail of Tears march of 1838. Today, an association maintains the burial ground, which is a link to the early settlement of Pioneer.

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John Crane TX6252

In 1830, John Crane applied to be a part of Joseph Vehlein's Colony. Reportedly from Virginia, he was a veteran of the War of 1812. He moved his wife and seven children to what is now Walker County, Texas, in 1834. There, he organized men and became a part of the Texas Revolution. He fought at the Siege of Bexar in December 1835. The next year, he was involved in the Runaway Scrape and also served in the Texas Army in John M. Wade's Cavalry Company. Following the Texas Revolution, Crane remained with the army. While Republic of Texas Sam Houston encouraged settlers to coexist with Native American tribes, Mirabeau B. Lamar's subsequent administration took steps to remove the Indians from the land. The resulting conflicts became known as the Cherokee War. It culminated in the 1839 Battle of the Neches, fought in Henderson and Van Zandt counties. Communication had broken down between representatives of the Republic and Chief Bowles (or Duwali) of the Cherokee tribe. Companies under the leadership of Kelsey H. Douglass, Edward Burleson and Gen. Thomas J. Rusk engaged Bowles' forces on July 15, 1839, on what is today known as Battle Creek. John Crane and a Doctor Rogers were both killed. The fighting continued the following day, when Chief Bowles was also killed. His death led to the eventual expulsion of his people from Texas. Crane and Rogers are believed to be buried in unmarked graves outside of Chandler on part of the battlefield (now private property). Although some elements of Crane's military service are unknown, including his military rank, he remains an important figure in Texas history. Today, he is remembered as a patriot and early Texas settler, a pioneer in the Republic of Texas.

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James Stephen Hogg and Cherokee County TX12149

James Stephen Hogg was born in 1851 to Lucanda (McMath) and Joseph L. Hogg on the family's plantation near Rusk. After a political career in Wood County as Justice of the Peace, Judge and prosecutor, he became Texas Attorney General in 1887. In 1890, he ran as the Democratic candidate for Governor. He returned to his native Rusk on April 19, 1890 to begin his campaign with a speech at Live Oak Park, where approximately 3,000 people gathered to hear him speak for almost three hours. His speech outlined his platform, which included the creation of the Texas Railroad Commission and the Alien Land Law, later considered among his greatest accomplishments as Governor.

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Western Atlantic Depot 023-8
This is the only depot between Atlanta and Chattanooga that has been in continuous use since May 9, 1850, when the first train ran over this end of the line. Previous to the coming of the W & A to “Cherokee Georgia,” the nearest market was Augusta. 3 weeks away by ox wagon. In the early 1850s, Ringgold was a bigger market than Chattanooga and large quantities of wheat were shipped from this depot. Built in 1849 of local sandstone with walls 14 inches thick, the building was badly damaged by Hooker’s guns during the battle at Ringgold, November 27, 1863. It was, as may know seen, repaired with limestone block.

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Old Stone Presbyterian Church 023-7
This church, organized September 2, 1837, before the Cherokee Indians were removed from this area, was the first church organized by white settlers in the bounds of the present Catoosa County, according to available records. The organizers were a group of Scotch Irish Presbyterians from Tennessee or the Carolinas and the Charter Members were: Robert Magill, James H. McSpadden, Robert C. Cain, Sarah Black, Alfred McSpadden, Fanny Magill, Susan McSpadden, Winnifred Cain, Margaret Cain, and Nancy Tipton. This building, of sandstone quarried nearby, was erected in 1850 and following the Battle of Ringgold, November 27, 1863, was used as a hospital. Blood stains are still visible on the floor. It remained a Presbyterian church until about 1920 when it was sold to a Methodist congregation which maintained it for some years. It then passed into private hands and to save it from destruction a group of descendants of the early members raised a fund and purchased it, deeding it to a board of trustees to be used for religious purposes. In recent years it has been used by various denominations.

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Old Federal Road 023-7
This highway is part of the Old Federal Road, an early thoroughfare that linked Georgia and west Tennessee across the Indian Country. It began on the southeast boundary of the Cherokees, in the direction of Athens, Georgia and led toward Nashville via Rossville. Another branch ran from Ramhurst, Georgia toward Knoxville. Formal permission to open this road was granted by the Cherokees in the 1805 Treaty of Tellico. Prior to its use by the Whites, the route was an Indian trading path to Augusta. This thoroughfare became the earliest vehicular way of northwest Georgia, the first postal route of this section, and an important emigrant trace to the West.

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Hightower Cemetery TX7597

John Bryan McPheres Hightower was born in December 1822 in Georgia. By 1846, he lived in Red River, Texas with his father and brother. Three years later, he wed Mary E. Morris in Cherokee County, and the couple moved to Erath County with three children by the time of the 1860 census. The family had earlier settled on a large ranch in this area. In 1870, the Hightowers formally set aside almost two acres here for a cemetery. Before that time, they had buried three children at the site, and some of the unmarked graves may date to earlier than 1870. At the cemetery that year, the community buried the first person outside the Hightower family, Reuben Phillips. A search party had found his body near the ranch after he had been attacked by Indians. John B. Hightower died in 1878, and Henry Killian bought the ranch. In 1895, he officially deeded the burial ground to a cemetery association, which has continued to maintain the historic site. Today, the site is the final resting place of military veterans, members of fraternal organizations and generations of area residents.

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McNeir Cemetery TX12089

Also known as McNeir Family Cemetery, this burial ground is the final resting place for Sarah Ridge Paschal Pix and her descendants. Her father, known as Major Ridge, was a Cherokee Chief in Georgia. He and others were assassinated in 1839 over a controversial treaty. Sarah came to Texas in 1848 with her husband George Washington Paschal and settled in Galveston. There, in 1850, she treated yellow fever victims using a Cherokee remedy. She also divorced Paschal the same year. In 1856, she wed Charles Sisson Pix and moved to Smith Point, where their son, Charles Forest Pix, was born in 1857. Tradition holds that at the age of seven, Charles Forest planted an acorn near the Pix home, and the resulting live oak tree later shaded the site of his grave. Although he died in 1874, his father, who had abandoned his family, delayed permission for the burial on the land until the next year. The site later passed to Emily Agnes Paschal McNeir, Sarah's daughter. Emily's husband, William, was the second buried here in what became known as McNeir Cemetery. Family members continue to maintain the small burial ground as a link to their rich history.

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Thompson Cemetery TX6741
Thompson Cemetery

Wiley (1799-1866) and Cynthia Ann Suttle (1811-1884) Thompson brought their eight children and a number of slaves to this area from Alabama in 1847. They purchased a 636-acre tract of land along Larrison Creek where they built a log home on a hill overlooking the creek bottomland. The community that developed nearby became known as Forest and included a store, saloon, mills and cotton gin owned by the family. Four more offspring were born here to the Thompsons, but around 1850, two of their children died and the family reportedly buried them in the corner of the yard where the house once stood. These first burials that began this cemetery are now among the more than thirty that are unmarked; the earliest dated grave is that of Mrs. L.N. Williams, who died in 1863. Those laid to rest here include veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Descendants of the Thompsons and families of the forest community continue to contribute to the care and upkeep of this burial ground. The original Thompson home and other early structures are gone, but this cemetery remains as a chronicle of the pioneers and generations who settled and developed this area of Cherokee County.

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