A lovely museum with some extremely important local history.

Chieftains museum, also known as the major ridge home. it is a two-story white frame house built around a log house of 1792 in Cherokee country in rome georgia. It was the home of the Cherokee leader major ridge and notable for his role in negotiating and signing the treaty of new echota of 1835. this site as a lot to offer and see. more than just a house.

Major Ridge moved here in 1819

Love this place highly recommend to check them out !!!!!

Every American should visit this museum and learn about the Cherokee Nation! Chieftains has something for everyone: architecture, archeology, gardening, kids activities, and historical narrative.

This is a beautiful pre-Cival War home once owned by a Native American. Loads of interesting Southern history to soak up. Contains standard explanatory and interpretive posters.

My girlfriend should really answer these questions as she has a great funness for small local museums. For myself I will say that I enjoyed learning about the local history and the history of the building in grounds and was really glad that I had gone.

Great place to get introduction to the history of Cherokee removal in Georgia.

Beautiful piece of history. Well maintained with beautiful grounds and friendly staff.

If you have some time tour the museum and walk the grounds....lot of history...

The Chieftains has to be one of the oldest buildings in Rome. The museum is nice and informative but dont expect it to be very large. It fits in well with New Echota and the Chief Vann House. You really should see all three to get a complete picture of life in NW Ga before the land lottery and the forced removal of the Cherokee people. Go see it if you havent already been.

UPDATE Oct 22 2016 visit - tried to visit this time on a Saturday, hoping that hours of admission are more constant on weekends. Unfortunately, we arrived to find that the museum was closed the entire day. I hope at some point the museum can resolve their resource and staffing issues and be open more. I would like to visit, but cant make this drive frequently. Perhaps the 2 colleges close by could help, even it is only by providing some history majors to help staff at times.Review of Aug 10, 2016 visit - Chieftains Museum is supposed to be open Weds-Sat 10a-5p. We made sure the day we took off work for our tour of northwest Indian sites coincided with this schedule. Imagine our surprise when we arrived at 11.30a on Weds Aug 10 to see the museum closing. We were huffily told the museum was closing until 1p. Unfortunately, our schedule did not allow us to wait 1 1/2 hours. Hopefully we will be able to visit another time and review the museum. My advice is to make sure the museum will be open when you plan to visit.

Interesting museum. Well worth a visit when in Rome GA.

Loved learning about Major Ridge...We were on a scavenger hunt! The family lore and local history were fascinating. Highly recommend!

Great history lesson. Very well maintained, friendly and informative staff. A great stop.

Ill be visiting more often, it has lots of great deals.

Went her to watch the 4th of July fireworks

Beautiful. Tells of an interesting history. Keeps the history while maintaining well kept grounds.

Museum based on great-great-great-great grandfathers home he was forced to sell to the U.S. government.

Very cool

Nice exhibits

Great little place. Nice historical site for kids

Fascinating peek into a time in history when greed generated some abhorrent behavior.

Outstanding & very interesting!

Good place to take the kids for educational

Nice history.

Want to visit

Had great time with my granddaughter.

Cool place.

I am a travel writer for National Park Planner and I visited the The Chieftains Museum, an official site of the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, in December, 2013. The house is the former home of Major Ridge, a Cherokee leader who headed the Treaty Party and signed the Treaty of New Echota in 1835 that gave all Cherokee lands to the United States in exchange for monetary compensation and land in Oklahoma. The home is located in Rome, Georgia and is open to the public on select days of the week. A small fee is charge to tour the museum house. A tour of the home takes about an hour.Major Ridge had a number of Indian names growing up, but white men knew him as The Ridge. He acquired the military title of Major in 1814 while fighting with Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend against the Red Stick Creek Indians. He used the name Major as his first name for the rest of his life. His home was given the nickname of the “Chieftains House” by subsequent owners long after he moved, in reference to the fact that the house once belonged to a Cherokee chief.In 1819, Ridge moved his family to a log cabin in Rome, Georgia, and this log cabin remains at the center of the house still standing today. Ridge developed a plantation, complete with slaves, and became rather wealthy. In addition to his plantation, he ran a ferry service across the Oostanaula River, which is located a short walk from the house. Once wealthy, a log cabin was out of fashion, but instead of tearing it down and building a new house from scratch, he covered the logs with weatherboard and painted it white to make it look like a white plantation house. Inside the museum home, the original structure is marked off with tape on the floor and in a few locations the weatherboard has been removed to show the original log structure. Ridge made other renovations and additions to the house until he moved to Oklahoma in 1837 under the provisions of the Treaty of New Echota. He was not involved in the forced march in 1838, having left voluntarily prior to the Trail of Tears.The house stayed in private ownership until 1969, when the Celanese Corporation donated it to the Junior Service League of Rome. Celanese had been using the property as a residence for the manager of its local synthetic fiber mill. Additions to the house since Ridge left were made in 1863 and in 1923. Plans to restore it to its 1837 appearance are in the works, but $3 million is needed for the renovation. The property is currently owned by the nonprofit organizations, Chieftains Museum, Inc. It became an official stop on the Trail of Tears National Historical Trail in 2002, but it does not receive any funding from the NPS, only publicity, though an initial grant was given to analyze artifacts found in an early 1970s archaeological excavation on the property.A complete tour of the house takes no more than an hour. The exhibits and artifacts in the house focus more on the house itself, and not Major Ridge or his connection to the Trail of Tears.A knowledgeable lady at the front desk does give an introductory talk that focuses on Ridge and his part in the Cherokee story, but that’s as far as personal history goes, other than two exhibits on his son John and daughter Sallie. Visitors are free to walk around the house by themselves. A tour brochure explains the history of each room and how it relates to the original house.Only a few acres of the original Ridge plantation are part of the museum grounds. After touring the house, guests can walk outside and down to the Oostanaula River.For complete information and plenty of photos about the Chieftains Museum and other Trail of Tears sites, please visit my web site (npplan).

Absolutely wonderful

Want to come back when we have more time.

Friendly staff. Very informative and interesting, clean atmosphere

Really good for people who love history.

Very informative

Great place

Its a beautiful Museum...

Cool place!

Very nice

Great museum about Cherokee leader Jonross

Nice small Museum, very interesting.

Very knowledgeable staff!

Great place to learn Major Ridge and the Cherokee Nation.

Gotta go see it. I loved it.