Murrell Home, Park Hill, Okla.- Photo by David Fitzgerald
George Michael Murrell was a native Virginian who married Minerva Ross, a member of a wealthy Cherokee family and niece of Chief John Ross. When the Cherokees were forced to leave their homes and move west to Indian Territory, Murrell chose to move with his wife's family to the new Nation in 1839. The house quickly became a center for social and political activity for the next dozen years. Murrell and his father-in-law, Lewis Ross, established a new mercantile business in Park Hill, Oklahoma, later moving it into Tahlequah, Oklahoma, the capital of the Cherokee Nation.
Murrell built his wife an antebellum plantation home in 1845 in Park Hill, Oklahoma. They called it "Hunter's Home" after George's fondness for fox hunting. In 1855, Minerva died and was buried at the nearby Ross family cemetery. In 1857, George married Minerva's sister, Amanda. They went on to have six children, the second of which was born in the Murrell Home in Park Hill. The baby was only 10 months old when troop movements and guerilla warfare began during the Civil War and his parents left the Park Hill area.
George Murrell, being a Virginian, supported the Confederates. As an intermarried Ross family member, he could never support the Cherokee Confederates, led by General Stand Watie, who were against the Ross family. He had to move his family to nearby Arkansas and then to Virginia, where he helped support the Confederate cause. His wife, Amanda and their son followed him to Virginia. She asked some of her family members to occupy the home in her absence and those relatives endured several of Watie's raids.
Mary Jane Ross, a sister of Minerva and Amanda's wrote to her son Willie about the condition of the Murrell home during the Civil War on October 2, 1865:
"Your Aunt Mankie's (Amanda's) house and place looks much worn and grown up with weeds. Inside the house, her nice side board was broken, one door split nearly down and all the feathers spilt upon the floors and the ticks (mattresses) taken by Stand Watie's men. They treated Aunt Jane (the relative living in the home) very badly indeed, took all her quilts and blankets - meat, flour, coffee, salt, corn and wheat that your Uncle George and Aunt Mankie gave her."
Although George and Amanda did come back to visit their old home after the War, they never made it their residence again.
Park Hill was devastated by the repeated raids and most homes in that area were damaged and destroyed. During the Civil War, various family members lived in the plantation home and remained throughout the nineteenth century. Jennie (Ross) Cobb, a great-granddaughter of Chief John Ross, is responsible for how the mansion looks today. She had lived in the Murrell home as a teen in the 1890s and knew the location of many of the original furnishings. She gathered the old furniture back to the house and took pictures of the inside. These photos are displayed in the house today and were used by researchers to aide in the recent restoration work on the house. In 1948, the State of Oklahoma bought the Murrell Home so that it could be preserved for future generations to enjoy.
The home stands as a reminder of the high lifestyle practiced by a few in the Cherokee Nation before the Civil War. The home contains original and period artifacts and furnishings. Today, it is the only remaining antebellum plantation home in Oklahoma. To add to its authenticity, several period outer buildings have been moved onto the property.
You can visit the Murrell home during the following times: March - October - Wednesday through Saturday 10am - 5pm;Sunday, 1pm - 5pm. November - February - Saturday 10am - 5pm; Sunday 1pm - 5pm. The Murrell Home is closed on State Holidays.
Sources:
George M. Murrell Home Historic Site Teacher's Curriculum and Activity Guide, 2007, Amanda Burnett
Declaration of Designed Purpose, 2001, Chief Chad Smith