Calhoun

This area was settled by John Walker (ca. 1770-1834), the part-Cherokee grandson of Nancy Ward (see point 39). Walker operated a ferry along the Hiwassee River and helped contract the Cherokee Turnpike Company in 1806, which maintained the road between Knoxville and Georgia. In 1819, Walker helped negotiate the Calhoun Treaty, in which the Cherokee ceded the remaining lands between the Little Tennessee and Hiwassee Rivers, including what is now McMinn County. In 1820, Walker laid out the town of Calhoun, which he named for the Calhoun Treaty's chief U.S. negotiator.