June 2, 2017
During Jane and Dave’s Chattanooga visit, Jane’s sister-in-law Nancy suggested an outing to the Chief Vann House. Turned out it was a great idea!
James Vann was a Cherokee leader and wealthy businessman who owned the largest and most prosperous plantation in the Cherokee nation. The two and a half story home he had built on the property in 1803-04 was constructed of brick, nails, and hinges made on-site. The interior was decorated in red, blue, green and yellow. Perhaps these colors represented clay, the sky, plants and the harvest. Or perhaps they were colors popular during federal times.
At one time the property housed 42 slave cabins, 6 barns, 5 snokehouses, a trading post, 1000 peach trees, 147 apple trees, and a still.
The Vann family lost the property in the early 1830’s and relocated to Oklahoma before most of the Cherokee Nation was forced to move there in 1838-39.
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