DailyHistMaymesterTrip.blog

A very fun and relaxing morning on Wednesday May 20th. I woke up at 5:50 AM today, and took a shower, got dressed, went for a little walk, and had some breakfast. When I went for my walk at the Oconaluftee park around 7:00 AM I walked over the bridge and took some pictures with the river. I went past the bridge to see some very beautiful and amazing ducks. These were the most passive and impressive ducks I have ever seen. I picked one up and they did not even run away. All in all I had a very beautiful experience and I would for sure recommend to people that they should go on this tour. After eating breakfast we all got on the bus and left to our first stop which was the museum of the Cherokee people. We left at exactly 8:00 AM.

The first thing I noticed when we pulled into the museum of the Cherokee people was this big sculpture of a Cherokee Indian. We came at exactly 8:05 AM, but they were not open yet. We had to find something to do for 40 minutes, so we went further down to another bridge that goes over the river onto a small little town. This was another impressive place where we spent our time. Mostly everybody went through the town to find something to buy, but me and some other boys stayed near the bus and played hackeysack.

This museum had all kinds of artifacts that told a story of how the Cherokee and all other Indian tribes translocated, starting with the Paleozoic time to the time after the trail of tears. The stories that they showcased here left me shocked and amazed. I learned a tremendous amount from the museum and that too from the use of many visual aids.

Here is a sculpture made of Andrew Jackson and a Cherokee Indian. I put this in here because I thought this was a great resemblance of how the Americans and the Indians worked together and also fought together in the end. They made many pacts and treaties, but in the end they broke all of them especially by the Americans. There were many different sculptures and artifacts that I found in this museum and they all have their very own significance and importance. Additionally, the first part of the museum had many pottery pieces created in 2025 by some local artist to show that the culture of the Cherokee is still alive and well. The museum was also in a transition phase, which is another thing to think about. This sculpture also showcases the differences between the different tribes of native Indians. For example, there were tribes of Indians that tried to get citizenship in America under a clause in a treaty they had signed. There were some who signed the treaty of New Echota because they thought it was the best option, and finally there were some who tried to fight legal battles to get some of their homeland back. But, in the end, they were forcibly removed to the Indian territory in a tragic event called “The Trail of Tears.”

We left the museum of the Cherokee people at around 10:30 AM. We made our way to the Oconaluftee visitor center where they had the artifacts inside of the visitors center and they also had a trail leading to the farms. Most of us went down to the farms and looked around at the old building and the animals to get a good understanding of the significance of the whole thing. We found a tool that was used to take all of the corn off of a corncob. There were many different tourists here at this time especially kids.

Here is a beautiful picture I took of the water next to the trail to the farms. The stream stretched farther than the trail to the farms and all of the farms itself as well. We even skipped some rocks here as well, and the most amount of skips I got was 4. We made it farther down the trail and found some old buildings along with some farm animals. Hogs and chickens were the only animals I seen here. After we all toured as much as we could we all got around and played some hackeysack for 20 minutes. Disclaimer, Hackeysack is actually a very fun game to play.

We left the Oconaluftee farms by 11:50 PM and made our way to lunch which was going to be at Dairy Queen. I was not feeling very Hungry so I just got me a large order of Onion Rings and a medium size cone of vanilla ice cream. We spent a good hour at Dairy Queen. I finished my food and went straight outside to find me a creek so I could skip some rocks. Also, I had a mission to get more pictures.

I found this creek with the most perfect rocks for skipping. I was just skipping rocks when out of nowhere a dozen yellowish looking butterflies came into my attentions flying all around me. I did try to get one to sit on my hands, but they would not go for it. The most number of skips that I got was 10.

We were given a tour through the different things included inside of the culture of Cherokee and other Indian tribes. The part that I found the most interesting is the weaponry used by the tribes. A bow made from scratch, some cool arrows with different heads, an interestingly shaped mace, and blow darts. The guide even gave us a demonstration of how the blow dart works. It was insanely epic seeing him shoot a dart through the dart blower, especially the fact that he got close to the bullseye on the target.

To end of our day in Cherokee, NC, we went to a Mexican restaurant nearby. I have to eat Halal foods, so that is why I ordered me bean and queso covered nachos, a veg burrito, and a fried ice cream. I honestly ordered too much so I was very full by the time I ate all of my food. We played tons of Hackeysack afterwards and then got ready for bed..