Jacksonland’s Many Layers

Jackson County

These signs show the boundary of the Cherokee reservation in North Carolina where a portion rests within Jackson County. It is one of many locations named after Andrew Jackson; there are also, for example, Jacksonville, Florida, and Jackson, Mississippi, as well as Jackson County, Alabama (not to be confused with Jacksonville, Alabama, which is in a different location). They were all named for the hero of the Battle of New Orleans and President who also had much to do with the creation of the modern American South. Jacksonland traces Jackson’s efforts to open Indian land to white settlement. He succeeded, but Cherokees and others have persisted, and can still be found, in this case, with sovereign territory within one of the very places that bears Jackson’s name.