New Echota

New Echota
The New Echota Council House. The building in this photo is a reconstruction of the original Council House.
New Echota is located in Georgia
New Echota
New Echota is located in the United States
New Echota
Location1211 Chatsworth Hwy.
Nearest cityCalhoun, Georgia and Resaca, Georgia
Coordinates34°32′22″N 84°54′31″W / 34.53944°N 84.90861°W / 34.53944; -84.90861
Area200 acres (81 ha)
Built1825–1849
ArchitectCherokees[1]
Architectural styleDomestic style architecture[1]
NRHP reference No.70000869[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMay 13, 1970
Designated NHLDNovember 7, 1973[2]

New Echota was the capital of the Cherokee Nation in the Southeastern United States from 1825 until their forced removal in the late 1830s. New Echota is located in present-day Gordon County, in northwest Georgia, north of Calhoun. It is south of Resaca, next to present day New Town, known to the Cherokee as Ꭴꮝꮤꮎꮅ, Ustanali. The site has been preserved as a state park and a historic site. It was designated in 1973 as a National Historic Landmark District.

The site is at the confluence of the Coosawattee and Conasauga rivers, which join to form the Oostanaula River, a tributary of the Coosa River. Archeological evidence has shown that the site of New Echota had been occupied by ancient indigenous cultures for thousands of years prior to the Cherokee. It was known as Ꭶꮎꮜꭹᏹ, Gansagiyi or Ꭶꮎꮜꭹ, Gansagi. The Cherokee renamed it New Echota in 1825 after making it the capital, in honor of their former chief town of Chota, based along the lower Little Tennessee River as one of the Overhill towns on the west side of the Appalachian Mountains.

  1. ^ a b c "National Register of Historical Places – Georgia (GA), Gordon County". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 1970.
  2. ^ "New Echota". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on January 31, 2009. Retrieved June 21, 2008.