|
The scenic lands comprising Lake Arrowhead were originally at the heart of the native Cherokee Indian nation. The Cherokee were a highly civilized and peaceful people who farmed and hunted in the beautiful lands now comprising Lake Arrowhead. The Cherokee were among the first tribe to have a written language and were highly literate for the times. Their unfortunate forced exile in 1838 from their ancestral lands, known as the ‘Trail of Tears,’ is truly a black mark on American history.
In 1856, John B. Puckett a probate judge from Canton, GA, purchased much of the valley comprising Lake Arrowhead. A plantation was created known as Lost Town, named after the original Cherokee settlement. John and Jane Puckett built a sizeable home on the land. The Cherokee County tax records of 1878 valued the home at $3,000. No other home in the district was so valuable or so well endowed. Today, only a chimney remains of the Puckett home which lies at the bottom of the lake just off the shoreline. The Puckett family cemetery has been protected and occupies two acres on a hill just south of Indian Ridge III within the Lake Arrowhead community.
|
