Ayeli Alohi

A perfectly ordinary roadside, along U.S. Highway 29 just west of Hartwell, Georgia.

There have always been roads here, and this particular spot was considered the Center of the World by the Cherokee people. As the sign by the Georgia Historical Commission notes, tribal councils were held here, and it became a venue for trade with white men from Augusta. I'm guessing that before that, it may have been a trading location with the Muscogee (Creek) Indians, and if so stickball games were likely played here as well.

Business still goes on here; visible behind the D.A.R.'s stone marker is Fabritex, a company specialising in structural steel fabrication. The factory was closed when we passed by, so I didn't have the opporunity to ask if any of their people are of Cherokee ancestry.

The Daughters of the American Revolution and the Georgia Historical Commission have obviously left their markers here. I'm not sure who put up the red-and-white signboard, but it looks like a Cherokee quilt pattern, so perhaps it was The People themselves.

The Commission sign also tells of a passenger pigeon roost located here back in the day. We didn't see pigeons breaking tree limbs or darkening the sky, but there were eastern bluebirds and chipping sparrows.

It may be diminished, but the world goes on.

[Some gentlemen from just down the road in Athens, on what feels to me like a similar theme:]