Will was the son of England born William Emory Sr. It was the first of Boone’s many encounters with William Emory Jr., also known as Will, a redheaded Cherokee who frequently traveled with the Shawnee. In 1769, expeditions including those of Daniel Boone and John Stewart came into the area. Wherever the Cherokee found a dry cave in Kentucky with a reasonably accessible opening, they entered and explored it systematically.īy the second half of the eighteenth century, Europeans intruded the area around Clay County. They ventured into caves in search of protection from the elements, to mine minerals, to dispose of their dead, to conduct ceremonies, and to explore the unknown, as indicated by the footprints, pictographs, petroglyphs, mud glyphs, stone tools, and sculptures they left behind. As the Cherokee explored and settled in Kentucky, they came across the entrances of great caves, some of which were filled with mineral resources that extended many miles underground.
#PONKA LOST CAVES FULL#
Kentucky caves are full of evidence of Cherokee people, from salt and crystal mines to exploration and habitation. Kentucky is a land of caves and home to the longest cave in the world. In Catawba, the Cherokee are called mañterañ, which translates as the people who come out of the ground. Mohawk call the Cherokee oyata’ge’ronoñ, which means people who live in caves or in the cave country. It is derived from the Choctaw word, choluk, which means cave. Interestingly, the word Cherokee comes from the 1557 Portuguese narrative of DeSoto’s expedition, which was then written as chalaque. Ironically, the very people Filson claimed did not live in Kentucky killed him. Filson further emphasized that American Indians had no valid claim to Kentucky because it was originally settled by an ancient white race that greatly predated the Indians. Filson’s book falsely explained that there were no American Indians living in Kentucky, but they were located in the adjacent states. The book included an account of American Indians inhabiting within the limits of the thirteen United States including their manners and customs, and reflections of their origin. John Filson, an opportunistic investor, land speculator, and entrepreneur, created this myth and many others in a book, The Discovery, Settlement, and Present State of Kentucke, published five years after his death in 1788. Instead, they portrayed Kentucky as either a middle ground used by all tribes for hunting or the center of many dark and bloody disputes. Failure to recognize American Indians and their tribal cultures has led to the destruction of many of Kentucky’s historic and cultural resources.įor more than 200 years, American historians have argued that the American Indians never lived in Kentucky. At the time Kentucky was declared a state, American Indians were actually living in log cabins, multi-story wooden homes, and brick houses. For example, many people still believe that American Indians in Kentucky lived in cave or tipis. Today, rather than an understanding of American Indian people or their culture, most people have a stereotype about them. Unfortunately, the Shawnee Treaty of 1831 became the standard for identifying American Indians in Kentucky. Park’s blood quantum was assumed and assigned to him rather than reflecting his actual genetic background or cultural identity.
The treaty gave Joseph Parks, a reported quarter-blooded Piqua Shawnee, entitlements including six hundred and forty acres of land. In the complete absence of a single genetic laboratory, the Shawnee Treaty of 1831 was used to define and enforce who was a “real” American Indian and who was not. These modern misconceptions of biology and culture can be traced to the very beginning of the state. Unfortunately, many people today still hold antiquated stereotypes about American Indian identity and use mixed-blood terms such as full-bloods, half-bloods, and quarter-bloods. American Indians living in Kentucky have intermarried outside their tribe since time immemorial.
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