In 1823 the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions
chose this site for its fifth mission/school for the Cherokees.
The
Boston-based organization had established its initial mission
at
Brainerd near present Chattanooga, in 1819. Among the
influential
Cherokees who persuaded the officials at Brainerd to establish
a
mission/school here were John Ross and his brother Andrew,
and
George Lowery.
A ten acre plot of land was purchased by the board for the
mission/school which was located on the main road from
Ross’
Landing to Willstown. Separate log structures 18 by 20 feet
were
constructed for use as classrooms by the boys and girls.
Other
buildings included a two story log house for the missionaries,
six
cabins for the students who boarded, a smokehouse, two corn
cribs,
a spring house, and a gristmill. Water came from a cave a few
hundred yards away, and a clever wooden trough provided fresh
water
for the students and their teachers. The missionaries’
house
was located two houses down this street. A large stone larder
still
survives.
The cemetery may predate the mission/school. A local
legend
claims that many Cherokee, including John Watts, the
Chickamauga
warrior, are buried here, but this has not been substantiated.
The
cemetery was also used as a flower garden by the missionaries
The Willstown Mission Cemetery Site has been certified by
the
National Park Service as an official component of the Trail
of
Tears National HIstoric Trail.