Swimmer and cabin – Cherokee Reservation, Qualla Boundary, NC

From Chuck Thomas, Cleveland, Ohio:

“I first saw this photo at the Chief Vann House museum in northern Georgia. I contacted the Smithsonian image archives and a copy now hangs in a frame in my home. The gentleman in the photo is Swimmer, with his family, in 1888. Taken by James Mooney.”

Fascinating. James Mooney was an ethnographer who lived among Cherokees in the late 1800’s. He recorded many of their myths and oral histories, including a very influential account of the Trail of Tears which includes eyewitness memories of the ordeal. Jacksonland uncovers new or little-noticed accounts that offer a still fuller picture of the episode.