Chickasaw Council House

Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness

"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez to Nashville we visit an exhibit known as the Chickasaw Council House. It is 11 or 12 miles south of Tupelo and due east of the town of Pontotoc. Along the original Old Natchez Trace was an Indian Village "PONTATOCK." The village had a council house, which became the capitol of the entire Chickasaw Indian Nation in the 1820s.

"In the fall of 1832, President Andrew Jackson had John Coffee to negotiate with the Chickasaw, for their land, as Coffee had done with the Choctaw two years earlier at Dancing Rabbit Creek. Negotiations took place at The CHICKASAW COUNCIL HOUSE in Pontotoc and on October 20th 1832 the Chickasaw and the United States Government signed the Treaty of Pontatock Creek, where the Chickasaw relinquished all their lands.

"When the Chickasaw went west, they carried the name of Pontotoc with them -- there's also a county and village of Pontotoc in Oklahoma. By the way, Pontotoc, known as the land of the hanging grapes, is the Chickasaw name meaning "Cattail Prairies".

"Join us next time when we will visit Black Belt Overlook. For Natchez Trace a road through the wilderness, I'm Frank Thomas."

For more about Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness, visit eddieandfrank.com