Officials with the Cherokee Nation are renovating an old schoolhouse in Oklahoma that they plan to use as a museum for Rossville’s and Ross’s Landing’s namesake.
Workers broke ground earlier this month at the site of a 97-year-old rural schoolhouse in Park Hill, Okla., that will become the site of the Chief John Ross Museum.
Ross served as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation for more than 38 years and led the tribe through the forced removal from North Georgia and Southeast Tennessee to Oklahoma known as the Trail of Tears.
Cherokee leaders say the museum will highlight his life and accomplishments.
Chad Smith, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, said the new site would stress two important concepts: the importance of education and “the reverence we hold for our leaders.”