C. T. Suddeth

Scuffletown Cherokee

About 1800, Jonathan Thomas Scott aka Scott Fox, 3^rd son of Cornstalk, Shawnee chief, married Mary Polly Cooper, a Cherokee. They opened a tavern on the Ohio River just up from the mouth of the Green River, Henderson County, Kentucky. A Cherokee village was there—the Cherokee played stickball (lacrosse), the whites thought they were scuffling, hence the name.

About 1870, James Martin led a party of Cherokee from Fort Smith, Arkansas to Scuffletown, where they had kinsmen. Scuffletown Cherokee are trying to get federal recognition, they go by the name Kentucky Southern Cherokee.

After the 1937 flood, Scuffletown was abandoned. It is now Scuffletown Bottoms, a wildlife refuge.

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Hoosier Ghost Town: Tremont was located along Lake Michigan and was abandoned to create Indiana Dunes State and National Park. It was big enough to have a railroad station, but nothing remains. Except ghosts, of course. No doubt looking for their former homes. (campground is in the old town)

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Kentucky Ghost Town: John Prine wrote “Paradise,” about Paradise, Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. In 1967, the TVA closed the town due to its proximity to a coal-fired power plant. Alas, Paradise is gone.

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