Illinois Campground

The story

Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com

Illinois Campground is a site near Tahlequah, in Cherokee County, that served as a Cherokee camp; at the time of its listing it was an agricultural field.

Why it's listed

It was listed under criterion A in 2004, with local significance in Native American ethnic heritage. Its period of significance is 1839, the year Capt. John Drew's detachment disbanded at the campground and the Cherokee National Convention met there.

Physical character

The 47.6-acre property is mostly open fields and pasture along Tahlequah Creek. An above-ground transmission line and an underground sewage pipeline, built in 1971, are the site's two noncontributing structures, next to its one contributing site.

Historical context

The forced removal of the Eastern Cherokee began in June 1838, and Drew's detachment left the Cherokee Agency that December and disbanded at the campground on March 18, 1839. The Cherokee National Convention met at the campground on July 1, 1839, and delegates signed the agreement forming the Cherokee Nation on July 12. The land stayed communal Cherokee property until the late 19th century, and it remained in cultivation and woodlands from 1839 onward. Ownership changed hands often in the 20th century; the City of Tahlequah held the eastern tract and Percy Nodine the western tract.