MEETING SCHEDULE

      *                   *                   *                   *

              MAKE PLANS FOR SENAA'S FIRST RAMP DAY SOCIAL
 

3 March .  .  .  . Mike Sutherland    15 March . . Cheri Swilling/Lawson
11 March . .  .  . Kelsie Sparkman
 

7 March                       SENAA Newsletter                         2
 

                        "VIEW FROM MOCCASIN BEND"
                       SLATED FOR ECOLOGY CHANNEL
                            by, Van Henderson

                   BLYTHE FERRY NAMED AS PROPOSED SITE
                      OF CHEROKEE MEMORIAL PARK AND
                          WILDLIFE VIEWING AREA
 
 

    By late February,  4,000-5,000    summary of where we've been, where
Sandhill   Cranes   are    usually    we are now, and where we're going,
congregated  in the cornfields and    by  Rhea  County  historian  Betty
shallows of the Blythe Ferry area.    Broyles.
    For years  the creatures  have       The Birchwood PTA  sold hotdogs
used what is now the  Blythe Ferry    and chili as fund-raisers.
Wildlife Refuge  at the  mouth  of       Plans  for  the   Blythe  Ferry
the  Hiwassee River   as a stopover    Wildlife  Refuge,   located   near
on  their   annual  treks  between    Birchwood, Tennessee,  include  a
their  northwest  Indiana  staging    two-story building with 14,000  to
area  and their  south Georgia and    15,000 square feet  of floor space
central Florida wintering grounds.    housing  a  Trail of Tears exhibit
  For centuries  the area was also    area,  an  audiovisual area  where
home  to the  Cherokee People, and    films can be shown,  and a  genea-
later played a significant part on    logical library  for tracing one's
the Trail of Tears.                   Cherokee ancestry.
  Last February 24 a special crane      "Currently,  there is no central
viewing day,  organized by retired    place  where   Cherokee  documents
National Park Service  ranger  Ken    are  compiled," claim  Chattanooga
Dubke,  had  more than  500 people    Free Press reporters.
flocking to the area  to watch the       The  proposed Cherokee Memorial
spectacular sight.                    Park / Wildlife  Viewing  Center's
   This year,  Dubke  combined the    second floor  will  be a  wildlife
bird-watching expedition and slide    observation area with a 360 degree
presentation  with Cherokee Indian    view.
Heritage Day  comprised of on-site       Other plans  for the  area  are
lectures  on  the  history  of the    establishing a roadway, trails and
Cherokees  in the area,  proposals    a parking lot; a granite monument,
to  make  the  Blythe Ferry area a    engraved with the names  of  local
Cherokee   Indian   Genealogical /    Cherokee families listed  on  1835
Wildlife   Viewing  Center  and  a    census    records;    and   picnic
progress report from Max Ramsey on    facilities.
on the National Park Service's new       "We believe  the  memorial park
educational trail that will follow    will have an economic impact  as a
the  Trail of Tears  from  here to    tourist  attraction,"   says  Hale
Oklahoma.                             Booth, of the  Southeast Tennessee
   Also  presented  at  the  event    Development District  and  Council
were  the  story   of  two   early    of Governments,  "not just for its
historic sites  --  Fort Southeast    historical  and  genealogical sig-
Point in Kingston and the Hiwassee    nificance,  but  as an opportunity
Garrison  --  by Sam Smith  of the    to view some very unusual wildlife
Tennessee  Division of Archeology;    in very dramatic concentrations."
a birds of prey  demonstration  by       Blythe Ferry  lies   along  the
J. Dale and Tony Liner,  World  of    northern land route  of the  Trail
Raptors;  and a discussion by Nick    of Tears,  and  is the site  where
Honerkamp,  UTC Div. of Archeology    groups of Cherokees from Camp Ross
professor,  of  the  archeology of    and  Rattlesnake  Springs  crossed
the area.                             the Tennessee River  en  route  to
   Wrapping up  the program  was a    Indian Territory in 1838.
                                      (See BLYTHE FERRY, page 4)
 

BLYTHE FERRY (From page 3)
   According to Alvin Cook, Silvia    Inc., will design the $3-4 million
Basarrate, of Planning Associates,    project.    *        *        *
 

                            OUR NATIVE TONGUE

Syllabary     Tsa-La-Gi            Pronunciation            English
              U-ka-na-wi           Oo-kah-nah-wee
              A-tsv-s-do-di        Ah-suh-stow-dee          Candle

              Tse-li               Chay-lee                 Chili

              U-yv-tla             Oo-yuh-tla               Cold

              U-ga-ma              Oo-gah-mah
              U-di-le-ga           Oo-dee-lay-gah           Hot Soup

              U-ne-s-da-la         Oo-nay-stah-la           Ice

              U-nv-tsi        (E.) Oo-nuh-see
                              (W.) Oo-nuh-chee              Snow

              Gu-ti-ha             Goo-tee-ha              It is snowing

              Dv-ga-na-ni          Duh-gah-nah-nee   It is going to rain

              I-no-lu-ga           Ee-no-loo-gah          You go hunting
 

                            CHEROKEE SONGBOOK
                       DI-KA-NO-GI-S-DI TSA-LA-GI
 
 

                              AMAZING GRACE

1.
                           U-ne-la-nv-hi u-we-tsi

                              I-ga-tsu-yv-he-i

                          Hna-quo tso-sv wi-u-lo-se

                    I-ga-gu-yv-ho-nv (or U-dv-ne yu-ne-sv).
 

2.                         A-si-no yi-u-ne-se-yi

                             I-yu-no du-le-nv

                          Ta-li-ne-dv se-lu-se-li

                             U-dv-ne yu-ne-sv.
 
 

                           THE LITTLE PEOPLE**
                            by, Rachel Davis
 

     One day my friends and I were    sounded like people laughing.   We
walking through  the village  when    ignored it,  thinking we were just
we came  to  the  old storyteller,    hearing things. Then we heard foot
and  we  joined  the  crowd around    steps behind us.  When we stopped,
him.                                  they stopped too. We looked around
  He was  telling the story of the    and saw two small men.  They  were
"Little  People."   It  was  about    about  two  feet  tall  and looked
people who look like Cherokees but    like Cherokee people. They must be
are  only  about  two  feet  tall.    the Little People, I thought.
They like to trick people and make      At first,  we were just a little
them laugh.                           scared,  but we talked to them for
  He said that if we were ever out    hours.   Suddenly,  I realized the
in   the  woods   and   we   heard    sun was setting;  and  we had told
something   but    couldn't    see    our  parents   we'd  be  back  for
anything,  it was just the  Little    dinner.   We   thanked  them   for
People  and  not  to   be  afraid,    talking   with   us,  then  turned
because  they only want to play or    around  and  headed  back down the
help us.                              path to our village.
  My friends  and  I  laughed  and      When  we  got home,  we all told
joked  to  hear  of such things as    our parents.   They looked at each
Little People.   One of my friends    other and smiled.   My dad said we
laughed as she said that they were    were lucky that  we were among the
only old people's stories.            few humans  that the Little People
  The next day we thought we would    have  revealed themselves  to.  We
all  go  into  the woods and check    went  next-door   and   told   the
the story out  for ourselves.   We    storyteller  about our experience.
all told our moms that we would be    He  told  us  he  had  many  other
back in time for dinner.              stories to tell us.   Now  that we
  We were all telling ourselves it    had  seen  the  Little People,  we
wasn't true  as we walked down the    agreed to  never doubt the stories
old path that led us deep into the    of our people again.
woods. We all heard something that        *        *        *       *
 

  Southern Tidings, Feb. '96 --       supported  her husband  in  estab-
  Meeting an urgent, critical need    lishing the family business.
of  Holbrook Indian School,  a new      The Ruth McKee Hall will be home
dormitory   will  be  built;   the    for 80 Native American girls, ages
result  of a gift  from  the McKee    6  through  20.  It  will  have 30
family  in memory of their mother,    rooms,  modest apartments  for the
Anna Ruth King McKee.                 dean  and  her  assistant,  and  a
  In  the  later years  before her    small computer/study room.
death,  Ruth  told  family members      Together  the  McKees  turned  a
there  was  only  one  thing   she    Depression-days   cookie  business
missed in her life,  and  that was    into the  McKee Foods Corporation,
teaching young people.  Her formal    the  largest  producer   of  snack
education  prepared  her  to teach    cakes in North America.
school.  Instead of teaching,  she        *       *       *       *
 

                          SENAA PROGRESS REPORT
 

TIC spokesperson  Harley Grant  to    and a protecting, preserving force
develop   a   Southeastern  Native    for  our cultures and heritages in
American cultural  and  historical    the Southeast;  being ever mindful
program to present to local school    that it is only with our Creator's
children;  location and protection    help   that  we  can  achieve  any
of  two burial sites;  cooperation    measure of success.
from  the  Cleveland  City Planner      May Creator bless our efforts.
concerni ng  the  protection  of  a
Native American  village site  and        *       *       *       *
 

   A Cleveland development company    the property.
recently bought property  that has          The developer's plans are to
long been known  by local citizens    build access roads on the property
to be the site of  a former Native    and divide it into lots for sale.
American village.  People who have       Concerned  that  any burials on
walked the pastureland in the past    the property might suffer the same
have  seen  evidence  of   burials    fate  as  those at the Collegedale
other than those contained in  the    site,  the SENAA Executive Council
burial mound  on the  east side of    (See NATIVE BURIALS, page 7)
 

NATIVE BURIALS (from page 6)
contacted  Cleveland  City Planner    outside  the  burial  mound,   the
Craig  Bivens   in   mid-February,    developer plans to  take necessary
voicing  SENAA's  concern  for the    steps  to prevent the graves  from
burials.   Mr. Bivens   said   the    being desecrated.
preliminary  plat   had  not  been        Conversations  with Chuck Benz
filed and promised to notify SENAA    echoed the developer's statements.
as soon as they were  presented to        Suggestions  by  the developer
him.   On  5 March,  the  plat was    for  saving  the  burials  include
filed  and SENAA  was notified  as    attaching burial sites to adjacent
promised,  with word that the plat    lots  with  a covenant attached to
would be reviewed by the Cleveland    the  deeds prohibiting any "ground
City Council for approval at their    disturbing  activities"   on   the
next meeting,  scheduled for March    property.
26  at  6:00 p.m.,  on  the second        The UTK archeological team, on
floor of the Municipal Building.      Monday,  11 March,  will  begin  a
  A copy of the plat was presented    two-week-long study of the area to
to SENAA by Craig Bivens,  showing    to determine  if there are burials
the   proposed   layout   of   the    on  the  property,  and if so, how
property,  which  is  being called    many and where they are located.
"Autumn Ridge."                           Negotiations  are now underway
   The plat shows the east side of    for SENAA  to obtain possession of
the property,  which  contains the    the  burial  mound   and  a  small
burial    mound,   as    remaining    section of land surrounding it, to
undeveloped,  while  the west half    prevent anyone from desecrating or
of the property,  which  fronts on    destroying the sacred area.  Since
Freewill  Road,  will  be  divided    that area  becomes flooded  during
into lots and sold.                   heavy rains,  and  cannot  be used
     A  conversation   with  State    for  any practical purpose,  SENAA
Archeologist Nick Fielder revealed    is trying to obtain the mound as a
that the developer has voluntarily    donation to the organization, with
hired  University of Tennessee  at    the  stipulation  that  the  mound
Knoxville (UTK) archeologist Chuck    will remain intact  and the graves
Benz  to conduct an  archeological    undisturbed.
study of the proposed site.
    In  a  conversation  with  the        *       *       *       *
developer,  SENAA  Vice  President
Al Swilling was told that,  in the
event that  burials are discovered
 
 
 

** © 1996; Rachel Davis, Cleveland, Tennessee 37311
     All Rights Reserved.

   © 1996; White Eagle Publications, Cleveland, Tenn. 37311.
     All Rights Reserved.