Published December 6, 2006
Owners of Blaine cemetery property
say they have no intentions of selling
Native American group undeterred
in fundraising efforts

By Dan Pool
A spokesperson for the family who owns property containing what is believed to be a Cherokee cemetery in Blaine say they have no intention of selling the property at this point, even as a non-profit group is raising funds to purchase it.
Marie Hyde said her family has owned the 4.5 acres off Highway 136 for three generations -- always treating the cemetery site respectfully and will continue to protect it. The family has never discussed selling or doing anything with the property - nor do they want to be forced to make any plans about the future of the Blaine property at this point, she said.
"The cemetery is there," she said. "We know it's there. It will always be there. But we're not giving up four acres without a good reason."
Hyde said her mother had been told the cemetery was used for the Cherokees, but her
mother also remembered being told there were non-Cherokees buried there as well.
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She said it's not even fully clear that the area now surrounded by a chain link fence is the exact spot of the Fort Newnan cemetery. The cemetery was used for Cherokees who died at Fort Newnan while awaiting the forced march of the Trail of Tears.
She said her family was insulted by the insinuation that the cemetery isn't being currently protected. "We are leaving it undisturbed," she said. "What more could you do to protect a cemetery?"
Hyde said she felt that the people wanting to protect the property had "zeroed in" on their parcel due to its commercial potential. She noted previous statements made by the group's spokesman about attracting tourists there and it being a "revenue generator" for the county made her suspicious about why their property was the one sought.
She pointed out that there were other sites in the area with Native American significance including the site of the Fort Newnan stockade, lying across the road from her property, but none with such easy access to a state route.
Greg Trammell, the director of the Talking Rock Cherokee Memorial Cemetery Trust, said they are undeterred by the owners' current position and were aware that would likely be the case when they announced their formation and fundraising effort last week.
This week the group is continuing their fundraising campaign with a full-page ad in this newspaper.
Trammell said they hope to negotiate face-to-face with the Hyde family, but need to have money available to make the purchase before they will be taken seriously.
"We understand that [no plans for a sale] is the land owner's position at this time, but we hope to negotiate that, with our attorney's help, to a different outcome," he said.
Trammell said the lawyer for his group and the lawyer for the Hydes have been in discussion. The Trust's first objective is just a sit-down negotiation, he said.
He said his previous calls to Hyde were not returned. She said the calls weren't returned as there is nothing to discuss.
"We need the money to have the negotiation," Trammell said. "We will ask the owners to take the money very gracefully. But we have to have the funds available to do this."
Trammell said there are other avenues a group might use to preserve a historical property, but he hopes that a simple, mutually agreeable sale will work.
"The organization was formed as a Trust to help the family of the people buried there," he said. "They wish to regain this ground. Our attorney has advised us that this is the way to try first."
Hyde acknowledged that a group could try persuading a state or federal government agency to use eminent domain powers to take the cemetery, but still isn't willing to meet with the local group.
She said if, in the future, they decide to do something with the property they would seek an Indian group recognized both federally and by the state with credentials.