Article Discussion

Editor’s note: We received a response to this article from Doug McClure Wood. His commentary is in the forums section of e-WV. Look for it under “historic tribes.”

The panels adjacent front and back entrance to the Mercer County WV courthouse in Princeton depict two separate Cherokee among the other people in the community. The Cherokee appear to have always been in southern WV and then more Cherokee came in the early 1800s. The panels on the Court House were made from local portraits from the 19th century. The part of WV bounded by the Trail leading to Cumberland Gap and the Greater Kanawha River was Cherokee territory, although Shawnee and others also lived there, after the treaty with Dinwiddie; the entire area being bounded by forts basically along interstate 64 today, and the other side of east river mountain. No forts exist within the area until the civil war, and not a single European permanently resided in Mercer County until 1848 or thereabouts. Another tribe called “Monetone” appeared to also be present. The panels adjacent the Mercer County Courthouse depict an American Indian leaning down beside the first Cherokee (Richockan?) and a black bear. He appears to be Monetone by his headdress. Also depicted on the Courthouse relief are First Virginians and Powhatan. In all, as many native Americans as Europeans are depicted, including two Cherokee, one Shawnee, one Monetone, a Powhatan (beardless mountain man), and a first Virginian (colonial—English/Powhatan), a settler woman, a settler building a cabin, a farmer, and a German—on one side each of the front and back entrances to the courthouse. Above the courthouse doors are memes: “all people are equal before the law”, and “Justice is the right of all of the people”. Apparently a little bit of Native Americana remains unnoticed by historians. Check out the courthouse to see the beautiful panels depicting the origins of the people of Mercer County. They date from the 1930s.