Beautiful park to visit. Great place to learn some history about the Cherokee people while getting a little exercise walking around. The Blue Hole aquifer has some of the clearest water Ive ever seen. It pumps out over 500,000 gallons of water a day! The Cherokee people believed this to be a special place and use this water in their ceremonies to this day (theyre the only ones allowed to use it). Would definitely recommend you visit if youre able.

A lovely park to visit with a couple of easy trails to walk. Plenty of history to learn and several re-creations to view. There is a spring where Indian tribes met which is quite pristine. Weve been thrice and shall definitely visit again.

Good place to visit for not only Native American (Cherokee Indian) but also our Countrys history as well. There is a visitor center with museum filled with relics, photos and information on the Red Clay Historical site. There is also a small gift shop area with a nice selection of keepsakes and mementoes.There are 400 acres here with picnic area with grills, picnic tables, restrooms close by with a large pavilion that can be rented.Along a paved path a Cherokee homestead with cabin, barn and corn crib make excellent photo opportunities further on along path you can view sleeping huts and Council Members meeting lodge several other interesting things to see on site so pack a picnic load the family up and spend so quality time visiting Red Clay State Historic Park.

Okay, so this is a very pretty Park with lots of opportunities for picnicking, it also has a very nice nature trail. But the interpretive center is not very large and does not have many exhibits. There are however several placards outside as you walk around that explain the buildings and such. If youd like a pleasant hour or two stop by .

Quiet locket historical state park with interesting displays. Secluded area is worth the ride.

Beautiful place for us to reflect on our past. The walking trail is no walk in the park! Its got some elevation, so its more like a hike in the park. Peaceful and allows dogs on leashes.

Council of Trees TrialThis is more of a review of the trail rather than the entire park itself. This trail was pretty easy. That is except for the fact that 90% of the trail is roots! Seriously though, its a pretty flat walk with only an incline/decline on the far left portion of the trail. Its a great starter hike for anyone who hasnt had much experience especially given that its just shy of a two mile walk. I think Ill start giving this trail a run. We will be back!

Beautiful historic park! Informative Rangers, nice gift shop, clean facilities and well-maintained grounds. Peaceful!

Beautiful Park Enjoyed learning about the Cherokee History that once took place here. The walk through the park was Amazing aswell as hiking through the wooded trails.

A great place to visit. I plan to go back.

Not much to do here, but it is a beautiful little spot far out from the busyness of cities. Rocking chairs on the ranger station porch made the visit worth it!

Sad to know how the Cherokee Indians were treaded in their own land and forced to leave their homeland and move west. This is the spot where the trail of tears began. They have a natural spring thats called blue hole, sleeping huts and a small museum with a 15 minute video explaining what happened here.

Long before this was a state park established in 1979. its an interpretive center along the Cherokee Trail of Tears. It encompasses 263 acres located just above the Tennessee-Georgia stateline.The park was the site of the last seat of the Cherokee national government before the 1838 enforcement of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 by the U.S. military, which resulted in most of the Cherokee people in the area being forced to emigrate West. Eleven general councils were held at the site between 1832 and 1837.Before the site was a government council site, it was used for many different Cherokee rituals because of its famous spring named the Blue Hole Spring also known as the Council Spring.According to Cherokee belief, another world like ours - animals, plants, and people - is in the underworld. Only the seasons are different. The streams that come from the mountains are the trails that lead to this underworld, and springs are the doorways by which it may be entered. To do this one must fast, go to water, and have one of the underworld people for a guide. We know the seasons are different because in the summer the water coming from the spring is cooler than above ground, and in the winter it is warmer.

Back in the boonies, but it is a beautiful and quiet little park. Several picnic tables to choose from and a short easy hike to take. Didnt get to go into the rangers station / gift shop, closed when we were there, but what I could see looked pretty cool.

Beautiful place to take a walk.Have a picnic on the ground.You can sit and just listen to the water on the council blue hole trail. Walk the trail and see where the water goes.

Fun..museum interesting. Trails were well markedGreat place to visit

It has been years since I had been to this park. It is still close to what I remembered. There is a nice picnic area, a shallow creek for dogs (or kids) to play in, and fairly easy hiking trails.

A favorite place to take the kids to walk an easy trail. Very well maintained. Nice creek.

Always a great, quite place to go for a walk through the 1.7mi hike. Its not difficult and theres a lot of benches along the way to stop and catch your breath. There is a gorgeous view a little more than half way through with some ruins. Also depending on what end you begin your walk, theres a little spring with an amazing story. I go through the back first and so it makes it seem like getting to the river is my end to my magical journey. Theres also a theater and museum and lots of places to have a small gathering or picnic. Dont forget to see the eternal flame, its very peaceful.

We loved seeing the old settlement buildings and wildlife here! Great hiking trails along beautiful streams. The picnic area was really nice.

Park setting is nice. Staff did not want io interact with us.

Another beautiful place to go you can learn all about the Cherokee Indians that used to live live in a certain region if I was you and you come to this area that be another Park I would suggest you to go to it is very lovely

A good place to stop for a couple hours

Quiet little park. Love the trails! Check out the Cherokee Museum inside. Outside you can see the Cherokees Eternal Flame and the Blue Hole Spring. Large picnic pavilion with bathrooms can be rented. There are other picnic tables, too. Great Cherokee programs and events going on throughout the year here.

Absolutely beautiful!! Walking or a picnic. This place is very relaxing and educational at the same time.

It has a quiet and peaceful hiking trail.

Although our visit was brief, we really enjoyed learning about the sad history of the Cherokee people. Well definitely be back to learn more and to enjoy this lovely park

We walked very fast through it, took a few pictures and left because it looked like it was going to rain and it did shortly after we left.

This may be the best hidden gem in the area since Ive lived here most of my life and had never thought about visiting and knew nothing about it.Red Clay, four miles into Bradley County from Hamilton and right on the Georgia border, became the capital of the Cherokee Nation when the State of Georgia kicked the Cherokees out of the state and their original capital at New Echota.Signs point the way along East Brainerd road through the several turns you make.The Visitor Center is very nice, a lot more than I thought it would be. It even has a gift shop with shirts, mugs, books, and all of the usual stuff. Erin, the ranger there, was very nice and knew the answer to every question we had. After we looked through the displays with interesting artifacts and historical info, we watched a 10-minute movie about the Cherokees and Red Clay in a nice theater with what appeared to be brand new theater seating complete with cup holders.Erin encouraged us to walk about to the Blue Hole, a natural spring that provided water for the Cherokees here. You can see the water bubbling up from below on the surface. Beautiful. Its about a two-minute walk from the Visitor Center.Then we walked about to look at the replica structures that have been built here. Very interesting.Highly recommend this Tennessee state park. Five stars.

Beautiful park with lots of room for my kids to run. After they were done getting their energy out we walked the blue hole trail and wandered over to the cabins. There is a lot of interesting history there. We really enjoyed visiting this park.

Diana S was wonderful and the staff there are juat great. The park is free and so clean. The bathrooms are clean and air conditioned. Pets are okay to bring. Absolutely love this park.

This was a nice little park. It wasn’t too crowded at all for Memorial Day. We did the Council of Trees loop. It was a little uneven but a fairly easy trail. We encountered some mud towards the end but still enjoyed the trip!

Went for a family walk and enjoyed reading the history of the area. Kids played by the creek and the forest ranger on duty came and brought nets to catch and release the animals in the creek.

Lovely park. Intetsting exhibitd

Cool park! saw a copperhead beside the blue hole be careful, bad year for snakes..

Nice historic look and very peaceful beautiful ride out

Beautiful, lots of history, and very well-maintained.

This park has historic importance to the Cherokee nation. There is a museum there and historical buildings on the property. There are walking trails with one going uphill toward a lookout tower. Theres room for picnic ing also. For larger groups there is a covered pavilion. Today when I went the park ranger was showing the families coming through a bow and arrow plus spear throwing demonstrations as it was done by the Cherokee indians. It seemed like the children enjoyed the opportunity to try for themselves to hit a target with an arrow. I would recommend bringing water with you if youre hiking the trails.

This park is beautiful. It is rich in history. If you can get the park ranger to give you a tour, do it! Its really informative and moves pretty quickly. You wont be standing around listening to the same thing over and over. If you have kids, thats nice! There is plenty of space to run and walk around. Beautiful, open fields off of the sidewalk areas.

Really enjoyed this park. Its well maintained. Great place to train your animals. Just pick up after them... PLEASE...

This step back in time was a visit I wont soon forget. The drive in alone is worth the trip. This was a great learning experience for the whole family. I hope to come back again real soon.

What a magical place! The Cultural Celebration was a great day with vendors, storytellers, music and dancing. Be sure to walk through the park to see the interpretive panels and other items of interest. The Blue Hole is so beautiful!

It is beautiful. The drive itself was worth it!

Wonderful beautiful magnificent place.....

Nice place for hiking with alot of not so nice history

Want to learn about Native Americans, this place offers history, culture, and imagination.

We enjoyed having our family reunion there. Go look at the Blue Hole spring

This place is beautiful and peaceful. The best part for us was seeing the Blue Spring Hole and reading about the Cherokee councils that took place in the area. It is a lovely place to walk and commune with nature. However, one must not forget the tragedy of people being forced to leave their home. Red Clay is said to be where the Trail of Tears really began. This landmark is not to be missed!

Small, very well kept with an interesting history

Peaceful!!!!! Staff informative and friendly. Trails and gathering areas well kept.

Took my kids on the counsel of tree trail (the longest one 1.7 miles) we got a little confused finding the start but once we did the trail is very defined and very enjoyable. It wouldnt be a trail to take anyone with disabilities though as there are roots and rocks throughout. There are lots of benches and stops and it doesnt get too steep. My 3 year old walked almost the whole time. The lookout tower was a really fun for us as we didnt know it was there. There is a picnic table on top if you want to take your lunch. The gift shop and exhibit is very nice and the restrooms were very clean! Definitely glad we went and will continue to visit!

Nice 1.6 Mile hike with my ladies today. Didnt have to carry either of them.

Red Clay State Historical Park has a magnificent spring called Counsel Spring which is sacred to both Cherokee and Creek Indians, and where they held ceremonies and counsel meetings for hundreds of years. This was a place used for healing as well. The pure spring water was always dependable and provided plenty of nutrient dense watercress to eat. Watercress has more calcium than milk, more iron than spinach and more vitamin C than oranges

Beautiful place during Spring! Its a nice walk.

Very nice place to have a family picnic clean bathrooms

Seemed nice, but it started to rain so we left.

Love this place..

What a fun place to walk around and see. The staff had the homes open so we could go in. Very knowledgeable and friendly. Cant wait to go back.

This is a hard place to find, but well worth the trip and time. Visiting more Cherokee heritage. This is such an important place in Cherokee history.

Great walking trails for families, lots of shade and open areas.

Great place to visit and take your family to.

Very quiet and relaxing place to reflect and spend some time away from the city.

So much Native American history. Everyone needs to visit here. Eternal flame .

Went to the pow wow today. They do this once a year. Very interesting.

This is an amazing place to go for walks with your pup or to learn history about the local area and the treatment of Native Americans. The inside of the main building has two exhibits that you can browse. One is more a room with a massive amount of reading but is very informative on historic events that have taken place in that area. The other has different items on display with information about their uses or the historical figures connected to them. I most certainly recommend this place as a stop for an afternoon adventure.The hubby and I usually go to walk around and get fresh air. We have yet to have a bad experience while visiting and trust me when I say we go there about once every other week. The staff are always very friendly and answer any questions anyone has asked.

Beautiful place. Very tranquil and wonderful walking trails.

Always a great place to go. Ticking trails. Picnic shed. Nice historical place.

Beautiful drive to it. Very clean bathrooms. Easy walks/trails. Glad we made the stop.

Amazing to stand where my ancestors once stood

Beautiful place to go!!! Lots of Indian history, and plenty of wildlife.

It is so beautiful and peaceful and enjoyable for the whole family

Very nice,visitors center was interesting. Well worth going

Absolutely love Red Clay. Went to a Powwow here last year, it was awesome. Its a very nice park. I would recommend coming here and checking out the blue hole.

It has been seven years since we have been here. We came here the 28th and 29th of October 2017 for the pow wow. On Saturday it was cold and rainy but the pow wow went on but started at 1530. On Sunday it was bitter cold with stints of wind snow. The pow wow was not called off this day either and all vendors proudly displayed what they had brought. It was an awesome time to be with our people. Maybe in the Spring we will return.

I really enjoyed this sweet little spot. The history and the simplicity was an absolutely delight. Its also free, so you cant go wrong with that. If you just want some quite time or study time in nature then this is the cutest the place for you. I am definitely planning on going again.

Perfect place to take family from out of town and walk our dog

Liked it , we climbed a wall and it started raining

Love local history. Was at the park for Renaissance display opening. Nice rangers and Gracie is great.

This is a beautiful place for such a sad history. This is known as the last capital of the Cherokee nation before the Trail of Tears.

Loved our visit to Red Clay. Went for the Pow Wow in October. A beautiful place on Nature to walk. Loved the Spring and the antique village. Will be going back soon.

Great place for 5 year old to play

The history and its beautiful. Great place to spend time with family.

Beautiful park to visit with family and friends. They have lots of walking paths. They have steps down to the creek. On a hot day it feels good to stick your feet in the water which is cold year round. Certainly not the most wheelchair accessible park but still a fun place to go. Its a nice place to go for a picnic. They also have a gift shop with some cool stuff.

Also convenient to home. Been many times and most likely visit many more times. Enjoy the walks the site altogether is beautiful and clean. Enjoy going ALOT

Very pleasant state park. The blue hole was beautiful.

Nice walking path and trails, private natural rural setting, covered picnic tables, Cherokee historic sites.

Very beautiful, quiet and serene place to hike and observe nature. Really nice and easy walking trail, you will love it.

Beautiful place for a picnic

The Museum was quite enlightening. Watched the presentation which was well produced. Then we walked one of the trails and enjoyed having the place to ourselves.

Is a nice walk, easy... It does have rocks on the path so you may trip if youre not watching..... Going through the woods not a lot of scenery but we still worthy to go...

Nice small park with one wooded hiking trail and another interpretive one. The nature trail could use a little better marking. There isn’t a ton of information about the exact area but, the little museum in the visitor center does a good job at telling of the history of the land and the beginning of the removal of the original occupants.

It was educational and fun. Would love to go back earlier in the day to stay longer and maybe a picnic with family.

Historical place. Cherokee Counsel Ground. State Park.

Nice little park and historic site. The blue hole is really cool.

Love this placeIts beautiful and so full of historyBeen going here for almost 40 years now

Great my favorite place

Beautiful park with well maintained trail. A fun place to wander.

Love to learn about Cherokee heritage

My husband and I got married here and love it! It will always be close and dear to our hearts!

What a beautiful hike in what appears to be a calm place. The store and history portion of the park reveals a different story.