Cherokee by AJ

The kids are keeping journals on the road. Here is an extract from AJ's. He is doing a wonderful job!

This morning we went to the Cherokee Indian Reservation. First everyone went into the museum where I learned all about the history of the Cherokee Indians, what they did and what they used for tools and weapons. We saw all types of weapons such as tomahawks, flint arrow heads and spear heads. We also saw different objects that they would have traded for other things from the settlers.

After this, we visited the Cherokee Village and our tour guide showed us our way around. We saw the huts that they lived in. They never lived in wigwams like other tribes did as they were a settled people and farmed the land. The tour guide took us to bits of the village where we saw people making arrow heads out of flint, which they used for hunting and war, making baskets out of river cane, weaving belts and mats, bead making and man making blow darts. He gave a demonstration of one and shot at a target, it was very accurate.
There was a man making wooden masks for sale in the shop. Masks were used in ceremonies. There also was a man that told us the Cherokee culture and way of life and about the different tribes in the Cherokee Nation. We saw different types of traps that they used to trap game such as a bird trap. There was also a bear trap and a fish trap that was placed in a stream. All of the traps that we saw were one third of their real size.