Red Clay State Historic Park

Red Clay State Historic Park encompasses 263-acres of narrow valleys formerly used as cotton and pasture land. The park site was the last seat of Cherokee national government before the 1838 enforcement of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 by the U.S. military, which resulted in most of the Cherokee people in the area being forced to emigrate west. Eleven general councils were held between 1832 and 1837. Red Clay is where the Trail of Tears really began, for it was at the Red Clay Council Grounds that the Cherokee learned that they had lost their mountains, streams and valleys forever. 

Red Clay State Park work to preserve and protect the site of the last councils of the Cherokee Nation in the east, prior to the Trail of Tears, and interpret the significance of the events that transpired.

To interpret the history of the council grounds and the challenges of the Cherokee people through cultural, archeological, and natural experiences.