Museum of the Cherokee Indian

After visiting Clingmans Dome, we exited the park along the Newfound Gap Road and headed into Cherokee, North Carolina.  There, we entered the Cherokee Indian Reservation.

We had a quick lunch at the Oconaluftee Islands Park.  Then, we toured the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, where we learned about the Trail of Tears and the history of the Cherokee Nation which was originally based in North Carolina but was forcibly moved to Oklahoma in the 1830s.  Our visit here nicely dovetailed with our trip last year to the Grand Canyon when we drove through Oklahoma and stopped at the Oklahoma visitor center where a large painting of the Trail of Tears was hung.

The museum was moving and Clare was very animated by the museum.