Welcome to Northwest Georgia's Chieftains Trail!

From our broad valleys and rolling hills to the rugged mountains deep in the heart of Northwest Georgia, Native Americans called this land home for 80 centuries. Aboriginal Archaic Indians lived here before 6200 B.C. Woodland Indians proliferated, growing crops and hunting wild game. Moundbuilders of the Mississippian culture spread to North Georgia up the rivers that feed the Gulf of Mexico beginning in 900 A.D..

The last cultural development of the Moundbuilders may have given way to a loose-knit Confederacy known as the Creek Indians. Their cultural history says they came from the west to inhabit the land in Northwest Georgia. They would share the land with the Cherokee, who were being forced west by the encroachment of European settlers further east. The Cherokee would be last great cultural development in Northwest Georgia before their removal in a tragic event known today as "The Trail of Tears."

Chieftains Trail is a unique combination of sites throughout our region that highlights the history of these First Americans. Nowhere else has so much of our Native American heritage been preserved than here in Northwest Georgia, what the Cherokee called, "The Enchanted Land."

Overview of Northwest Georgia's Chieftains Trail