Murrell Home

George Michael Murrell was born to a prominent family in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1808. He moved to the Athens, Tennessee, area as a young man to pursue mercantile interests with his brother, Glenmore O. Murrell, and future father-in-law, Lewis Ross. There in 1834 George Murrell met and married Minerva Ross. Minerva was the oldest daughter of Lewis and Fannie (Holt) Ross, members of a wealthy and influential Cherokee family. Lewis was a merchant, planter, and National Treasurer of the Cherokee Nation. His brother, John, was Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1828 until his death in 1866. When the Cherokees were forced to leave their homes in the East during the "Trail of Tears" in 1838-39, Murrell chose to move with his wife's family to the new Nation in the West. In Park Hill, Indian Territory, he established a plantation and built a large frame home similar to those he remembered in Virginia. He called the Greek Revival-style house "Hunter's Home" because of his fondness for the fox hunt. A rock building was added beside the creek branch over a cold spring to preserve food. Outbuildings included a barn with stables for his horses. Other buildings probably added were a smokehouse, grist mill, blacksmith shop, corn cribs, and small cabins for slaves and employees. Murrell and his father-in-law also established a mercantile business in Park Hill, later moving it into Tahlequah, the capital of the Cherokee Nation.