The Chief John Ross House is both an historical landmark and the focal point of the community -- Rossville -- that takes its name from the home's most famous occupant. Located in the heart of the city just south of the Tennessee-Georgia border, the house was for years an attraction that drew thousands of visitors from the area and beyond. For the last two years, though, it was closed to visitors. That, happily, is changing.
Beginning this week, the log cabin built in 1797 by John McDonald, grandfather of the Cherokee Chief John Ross, will be open to visitors from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The cabin, thought to be one of Georgia's oldest structures, will be open on that schedule until school resumes in August. Renewed public access to the historic building is welcome.
Most of those who came of age in Chattanooga likely remember the Ross house fondly. Over the course of many years, thousands and thousands of school children from southeast Tennessee and northwest Georgia toured the five-room, two-story cabin and its grounds. It was -- for them and other visitors -- a valuable introduction to United States, Indian and regional history. That should prove to be the case, as well, for contemporary visitors.
The house, said Larry Rose, president of the John Ross House Association, has been closed to the public in recent years because a struggling economy reduced the number of visitors to the site. The concomitant decline in donations made it impossible for the association to pay for a staff to keep the house open. An improving economy, Mr. Rose hopes, will rectify the cash flow problem. Hopefully, that will prove to be the case.
The Ross house offers a glimpse into a time -- 1797 -- when the structure was part of the American frontier. It provides, as well, a glimpse into the life of John Ross, more Scots than Cherokee, but still a principal chief and leading political leader of the Indian nation. Chief Ross, founder of Chattanooga, was well known across the country and in the nation's capital, where he ably represented Indian interests for years before he and his people were exiled to Oklahoma.
The cabin remained a focal point for community and regional events as the area surrounding it changed from frontier to sparsely settled farmland to a small city with an industrial base. Now it serves yet another purpose.
Rossville Mayor Johnny Baker says he hopes the reopening of the Ross house will bring more tourists to his city this summer and boost the local economy. That's entirely possible. Teaching the lessons of history and providing an economic boost to the neighborhood aren't mutually exclusive tasks.