New Echota
New Echota | |
The New Echota Council House. The building in this photo is a reconstruction of the original Council House. | |
| Location | 1211 Chatsworth Hwy. |
|---|---|
| Nearest city | Calhoun, Georgia and Resaca, Georgia |
| Coordinates | 34°32′22″N 84°54′31″W / 34.53944°N 84.90861°W |
| Area | 200 acres (81 ha) |
| Built | 1825–1849 |
| Architect | Cherokees |
| Architectural style | Domestic style architecture |
| NRHP reference No. | 70000869 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | May 13, 1970 |
| Designated NHLD | November 7, 1973 |
New Echota was the capital of the Cherokee Nation in the Southeastern United States from 1825 until their forced removal in the late 1830s. New Echota is located in present-day Gordon County, in northwest Georgia, north of Calhoun. It is south of Resaca, next to present day New Town, known to the Cherokee as Ꭴꮝꮤꮎꮅ, Ustanali. The site has been preserved as a state park and a historic site. It was designated in 1973 as a National Historic Landmark District.
The site is at the confluence of the Coosawattee and Conasauga rivers, which join to form the Oostanaula River, a tributary of the Coosa River. Archeological evidence has shown that the site of New Echota had been occupied by ancient indigenous cultures for thousands of years prior to the Cherokee. It was known as Ꭶꮎꮜꭹᏹ, Gansagiyi or Ꭶꮎꮜꭹ, Gansagi. The Cherokee renamed it New Echota in 1825 after making it the capital, in honor of their former chief town of Chota, based along the lower Little Tennessee River as one of the Overhill towns on the west side of the Appalachian Mountains.