A very important feature of Cherokee tribal history can be found right here, tucked away between the Eastgate and Brainerd Village shopping areas: “Chickamaugah Town,” (Chi-ka-ma-ka) established by Chief Dragging Canoe (Tsi-yu-Gansi-ni) around 1750.
After the Cherokee had signed one of the many treaties that would one day lead to the “Trail of Tears,” Dragging Canoe seceded from the Cherokees and formed a militant faction, called the Chickamaugas from the name of the nearby creek. He encouraged many of his tribespeople to join him, and many did. They would remain here as a pocket of stubborn resistance for the next forty years. Their “Chickamaugah Town” was located across the creek, extending to approximately where the Chattanooga airport is now. (Dragging Canoe's little brother, Chief Little Owl, settled a few miles north of here, near the present site of the Audubon Acres nature preserve.)
This cache is located at the site of the cemetery of the Brainerd Mission, which extended from here to a gristmill site (Bird's Mill) at the edge of the creek. From this location, well-intentioned missionaries sought to educate and convert the tribespeople until the time of the Cherokee Removal. Subsequent urban development has gobbled up all traces of the mission, and of Chickamaugah Town, except for this secluded site.
The cemetery is open 8am-5pm on weekdays only, but the cache can be found even when the gate is locked. This is a fine lunchtime, daylight-only cache: it is clean, shady, well-maintained, and filled with interesting exhibits and monuments. The historic site is public property but it is unattended and un-lit and has no visitor facilities. Moderate muggle presence. After you locate this cache, plan to spend some time just to browse: there's a lot of interesting things to read nearby.
There's plenty of free parking in the adjacent Eastgate parking-lot. You don't need to remove anything, or climb on or under anything to find the cache. Tree-cover should not be an issue even in the spring.
You are looking for a small cache, appropriately sized and shaped for the area... Original contents included log-in sheet (please BYOP!) and coins.