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Cherokee Oak

Cherokee Oak is a Tennessee historical marker in Brotherton, Putnam County.

Immediately east of 4131 Buck Mountain Road, Brotherton, Tennessee

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As of 2026, this oak stands along what was the Old Walton Road, which was completed in 1801 as the major throughfare connecting East and Middle Tennessee. Legend says the tree was named for Frances Hammock, remembered locally as a Cherokee woman. It is said she passed this tree while fleeing from soldiers enforcing the 1830 Indian Removal Act. The tree also served as s resting spot for Willis Hyder, one of the last horseback mail carriers, who delivered mail from 1908 into the early 1950s.

Maps this old were drawn largely by eye, so places on them can sit miles from where they really are. The pin is ours and marks the marker's location today.

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

Example

For example, one family's tree showed the Articles of Confederation marker in Pennsylvania standing under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s.

What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

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Marker text and location from the Tennessee Historical Commission, as the Commission publishes them on its marker map.

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