CHEROKEE INDIAN NECROPOLIS, Oconee County, SC A.K.A. Necropolis of the Cherokee A.K.A. Tunnel Town, Stumphouse Mountain and Mountain Rest, SC Version 2.0, 24-May-2003, C266.TXT, C266 **************************************************************** REPRODUCING NOTICE: ------------------- These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format for profit, or presentation by any other organization, or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Paul M Kankula - nn8nn Seneca, SC, USA Oconee County SC GenWeb Coordinator Oconee County SC GenWeb Homestead http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/oconee.html Oconee County SC GenWeb Tombstone Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/cemeteries.html http://www.usgwtombstones.org/southcarolina/oconee.html **************************************************************** DATAFILE INPUT . : Paul M. Kankula at (visit above website) in Mar-2002 DATAFILE LAYOUT : Paul M. Kankula at (visit above website) in Mar-2002 HISTORY WRITE-UP : Keowee Courier Newspaper in 12-Feb-1942 IMAGES ......... : Gary Flynn at (visit above website) in Mar-2002 LOCATION WRITE-UP: Gary Flynn at (visit above website) in Mar-2002 TRANSCRIPTION .. : Gary Flynn at (visit above website) in Mar-2002 CEMETERY LOCATION: ------------------ The graveyard is located adjacent to the first Stumphouse Mountain Tunnel shaft to the north. Part of it is inside the Walhalla waterworks watershed fence. Latitude N__ __.___ x Longitude W__ __.___ CHURCH/CEMETERY HISTORY: ------------------------ Per Colonel R.T. Jayees. "At some distance may be seen, to this day, the ruins of the Necropolis of the Cherokee, whose history no man knoweth; unlettered slabs of granite rock (frequently scattered on all sides) mark the resting place of the unknown dead. But Assyrian kings and Egyptian potentates are no better remembered, though they sleep under mausoleums on whose brow forty centuries made no impression. It may be written, without danger of contradiction, of this race of Nature's noblemen, so ruthlessly swept away by the white man, that the neighboring hills oft echo with the exhilarating shout of the chase as they pursued the deer or buffalo up the sunless ravines; and the war-dance and the piercing battle cry. That the graves were rifled on the northern slope of the mountain in quest of the traditional treasures entombed with the remains of chiefs, is evident from the disordered situation of the mortuary slabs, scarcely two of them lying in the same direction. This being a gold region, the cupidity of adventurers may have enticed them hither in the earliest days of our colonies. Mr. Simms intimates that this may have been an Eldorado of the adventurous Spaniard, no less than the realms of Montezuma." By: Keowee Courier, 12-Feb-1942 Note: Since Civil War deserters used buildings located in the old town of Blue-Ridge Railroad Tunnel Town for firewood, it is speculated that they probably desecrated these graves, in search of gold. TOMBSTONE TRANSCRIPTION NOTES: ------------------------------ a. = age at death b. = date-of-birth d. = date-of-death h. = husband m. = married p. = parents w. = wife >