Chieftains Museum/Major Ridge Home - Historic Structure and Cultural Landscape Report

For the purposes of developing this combined Historic Structure Report and Cultural
Landscape Report, the National Park Service, in conjunction with Chieftains
Museum, determined additional historical research was needed to find information
relevant to understanding and interpreting the building and landscape history. NPS
and Chieftains agreed that historical research should be undertaken at the thorough
level as defined in the NPS Cultural Resource Management Guideline (1995:18).
In the Spring of 2004, Chieftains Museum entered into contract with Southern
Research Historic Preservation Consultants, Inc. to undertake the historical research
for this project. Based on a research plan approved by Chieftains Museum and NPS,
Southern Research prepared successive drafts of a document presenting the results of
their research effort. Southern Research consulted many sources and the results are
presented in an edited form in the second and third sections of this report. In
general, the results of the research were less than what was hoped for and additional
research would likely further benefit the overall understanding and interpretation of
the history and current state of the Chieftains property.