{"nrhp_refnum":"70000869","name":"New Echota","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"NE of Calhoun on GA 225","address_restricted":false,"city":"Calhoun","county":"Gordon County","state":"GA","lat":34.53938808350006,"lon":-84.90314196905337,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-05-13","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1973-11-07","areas_of_significance":["Historic - Aboriginal","Native American","Politics/Government","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"New Echota is a 200-acre historic district on Route 225 near Calhoun, Gordon County, Georgia, at the site of the Cherokee Nation's capital, founded in 1825. It includes the original Worcester House (c.1827), reconstructed Cherokee buildings, a moved tavern and a visitor's center.","why_significant":"New Echota was the first truly national capital of the Cherokee Nation, where its adopted Anglo-American style of government, law and literacy was institutionalized. The Cherokee Phoenix newspaper was printed here in 1828 using Sequoyah's syllabary. It was the setting for Worcester v. Georgia and the place where the 1835 Treaty of New Echota was signed, leading to the Trail of Tears.","narrative":"New Echota, near Calhoun in Gordon County, Georgia, is the site of the Cherokee Nation's capital, established in 1825. The village was lost until 1953, when research located it in a corn field near the meeting of the Oostanaula and Coosawattee Rivers. Today the roughly 200-acre property holds the original Worcester House, a c.1827 two-story frame home and mission school, along with a reconstructed Supreme Court building and Print Shop, a moved Cherokee-built tavern and a visitor's center. The place matters for what happened here. The Cherokee adopted a constitution and a republican government, and in 1828 printed the first issue of the Cherokee Phoenix in Cherokee and English using Sequoyah's syllabary. The missionary Samuel Worcester's case, Worcester v. Georgia, grew from events here. In December 1835 a minority faction signed the Treaty of New Echota, which became the pretext for removal, and General Winfield Scott based his command here in 1838.","period_of_significance":"1825-1838","architect_builder":"Worcester House built by Rev. Samuel A. Worcester (1827); restoration directed by Henry Chandlee Forman; reconstructions directed by Thomas G. Little; Vann's Tavern built by James Vann","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as excellent and altered, on its original site, with preservation work in progress; operated as a public historic site and museum by the Georgia Historical Commission.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:40.995696-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/70000869_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000869/d1b5057d3c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000869/d1b5057d3c-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Cculber007 at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NewEchotaSign.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Cculber007 at en.wikipedia</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NewEchotaSign.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93206775","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Echota","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7007061"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/gordon-county/new-echota-70000869/"}