Tahlonteeskee, Oklahoma facts for kids

Tahlonteeskee, Oklahoma (Cherokee variant: Tahlontuskey) was the first capital city of the early western Cherokee Nation. It was named for Tahlonteeskee, who was the third Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation -West (1817–1819). Today, the area of the settlement is an abandoned, barren site on private land in Sequoyah County.

History

Tahlonteeskee was founded in 1828, and became the capital of the Cherokee Nation–West. Chief John Jolly, brother of Tahlonteeskee, posthumously named the town in his honor. It continued as the western Cherokee peoples' capital from 1828 through 1839, when new arrivals from the Trail of Tears flooded the area. At that time, Takatoka briefly became capital before the transition of the council seat to Tahlequah, Oklahoma was finished—upon completion of the construction of the new capitol building—and the seat of the government permanently moved away. Tahlonteeskee continued for years as a council meeting place for Old Settlers in order to settle differences between differing tribal factions.

Tahlonteeskee is the oldest governmental capital in Oklahoma, and is today a ghost town on private land in Gore, Oklahoma.