Spring Lecture Symposium at Red Clay explores Cherokee history
Four speakers knowledgeable on Cherokee area history are scheduled to take the dais during the annual Spring Lecture Symposium at Red Clay State Historic Park in Cleveland, Tenn. The program is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, March 11, in the Visitor Center at the park, 1140 Red Clay Park Road SW.
Gerald Hodge, director of the Tennessee Overhill Heritage Association, will discuss the Overhill Cherokee. The Overhill was so named because it was home to Cherokee settlements on the western slopes of the Appalachian Mountains — overhill from the Lower Cherokee settlements.
Chris Young, a National Park Service ranger, will discuss the Moccasin Bend National Archaeological District, where evidence exists showing 12,000 years of human history.
Kelly Holdbrooks, executive director of Southern Highlands Reserve, a native plant arboretum and research center in North Carolina,, will discuss the organization’s mission of sustaining the natural ecosystems of the Blue Ridge Mountains and its involvement with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
Anita Finger-Smith, the principal genealogist for Cherokee Genealogy Services, licensed by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, will give a lecture titled “Indian Land Into the Market Place: Cherokee Land Cessions, 17211835.”
Admission is free. To register, call 423-478-0339 or go to www.tn state parks. com/parks/about/red-clay and click on Upcoming Events.