10-2-17  heading back to Buford, GA, by way of Red Clay Historical Park:

I like trying to find a waterfall or something interesting to stop at on the way home from Knoxville, but I didn't spend much time researching that this time.  In the short amount of time I did before we left their house, I came across Red Clay Historical Park.  Never heard of it before, but it was close to I-75 and made a good bypass around Chattanooga.  So we decided to check it out.
Along the way, we enjoyed the views along I-75 towards Cleveland, Tn.

the Tennessee River?

It was another pretty day weatherwise and cloudwise.

Just South of Cleveland we started our off highway detour to find the park.  Got a kick out of this along the way----a remote controlled grass mower for cutting grass on a steep hill side!  What a great idea!!!  Someone was standing along the side of the road operating it.  But that's a fun job to have!

Nice seeing different countryside, too.

A lot of this ride reminded me of the Willamette Valley in Oregon.

Then, in the middle of nowhere, is the park---right on the Tennessee/Georgia border.

Here is where the Cherokee Nation's council assembled yearly back in  1832-1838.

This is a replica of the pavilion where they signed the treaty giving up their land.

More replica buildings---the ones on the left being the drafty buildings they slept in during the council meetings; the couple on the right being a replica Cherokee farm.

The Eternal flame which is kept lit representing the Cherokee Nation's unquenchable spirit.

The Blue Hole Spring rises from an underground cave below the limestone rock ledge to flow into a tributary of the Conasauga and Coosa River river system. Some 504,000 gallons of water flow through here every day at a rate of 350 gallons per minute. The spring maintains an annual temperature of about 56 degrees and is approximately 14 feet deep.

Lots of informative signs throughout the grounds. 

One about the Blue Hole Spring

Early Fall, but there was some leaves changing color.  It's been quite dry so I wonder what kind of color we're going to get this year.

Love all the golden rod around this time of year!

walkway down to the Blue Hole and river.

Nice place to sit for awhile.

Hard to believe that's 14' deep and 350 gallons of water are coming up from under ground every minute!

A sign talking about the Council meetings and the signing of the treaty.

more wild flowers growing everywhere.

Better look at the Council meeting pavilion.

Looking towards the replica farm.

Replica sleeping huts.

Replica barn of a middle class Cherokee family

They had a little garden to the side.  Looks like a few crops were growing.

along with a flower or two

More wildflowers

Looking back towards the farm from across the field.

Love all the wild stuff.

a view of the barn in the farm plot.

a lone white flower in the field.

Then I saw a couple birds fly by and they seemed to be blue.  So I followed them to check them out. 

My 1st Bluebird sighting!!!!  I've been looking for them every since we've gotten to Georgia.  Such a pretty bird---and reminds me of when I was a Blue Bird 55 years ago!

The other one.  They wouldn't let me get any closer.

Nice place for their house.

Lots more wild flowers around there, too.

Heading back to the parking lot.

Turned out to be an nice little stop with a lot of historical information.  Glad we stopped.
On our way to I-75 past Chattanooga, we saw a sign for a historical train tunnel.  It was only about a mile or 2 past the entrance ramp onto I-75, so we decided to take another detour and check it out.

They actually give tours of it!?  We didn't stop to check out the tours.

Just read the plaque.  Good bit of history for this little tunnel!

Historic facts during the Civil War.

Soon we were back on I-75 heading towards Atlanta.  Arrived back to our place in Buford by early evening.
I've probably seen more of Georgia and Tennessee in the 1 1/2 years we've lived out this way then I've seen of Missouri in the 45 years I lived there!