08/07/2026
Here is some Rocky Mountain history.
Here is another community story that I have written. This one is about the Rocky Mountain and Echota communities. The picture is of the 1941 4-H club at Rocky Mountain School.
As early as 1875, “Rocky Mount” School was in session under the direction of H.M. Adair as teacher. Many of the early accounts of Rocky Mountain refer to the community or school as Rocky Mount. In Indian Territory days, many community schools also served as churches. At the Flint District Sabbath School picnic described in the Cherokee Advocate on June 27, 1878, the Sabbath (Sunday) Schools of Rocky Mount, Muddy Springs, Double Springs, Clear Water, and Gravel Hill were listed as present “in a body.” Other schools were mentioned as being “present in part” but are not named. The picnic was described by the writer as “the largest gathering of the kind ever assembled in the Nation.”
In the same edition of the Cherokee Advocate, R.W. Walker of Tahlequah is named as the teacher, and L.S. Sanders as the Director of Rocky Mount.
It is interesting that none of the schools named in the 1878 articles are listed as operating in the September 2, 1897, edition of The Vinita Leader, except for Rocky Mount. The teacher of this school was Wm. H. Davis.
According to Cherokee historian Jack Baker in his article about “Cherokee National Schools, Flint and Going Snake Districts,” Rocky Mount was included on the list of Cherokee National Schools, operating in Indian Territory from 1876 until statehood. The teachers listed included H.M. Adair, Walter A. Evans, Edith Hicks, H.H. Moore, Lucinda Foreman, Frances E. Potts, Richard H. Holland, Leona D. Walkingstick, W.E. Johnson, J.W. C**n, Nancy Campbell, William H. Davis, George W. Smith, Jeff Paden, Henry Reese, Jesse Sanders, Sarah A. Bean, Bessie E. Rogers, Lizzie McEnery, Shorey Ross, and William W. Whitmire.
Nellie Wolf, 84, the daughter of Charlie Smith, described her family’s life in Rocky Mountain, in her, February 21, 1969, interview with J.W. Tyner. Sometime in the 1870s, her father built a large log house in the Rocky Mountain community, where Nellie was born and lived her entire life. Some of the old country schools she remembered were Rocky Mountain, Possum Holler, Stony Point, and Hungry Mountain. There was also a school at Echota, but she couldn’t recall anything about it. She said that the Rocky Mountain area was wild and primitive for the most part and ideally suited to the Indian way of life. Indian homes were hidden up deep “hollers” or on steep hillsides, and they were never too far from a little stream or spring. Her husband Jack Wolf hunted game with bow and arrow, his muzzle-loading rifle, and, sometimes, killed smaller game with a well-aimed rock. She loved to dig wild onions and pick wild greens in the springtime. Nellie missed the good days when they raised all of their food stuffs and said that the store-bought food didn’t taste the same.
She recalled the Indian families of the old days. Some of the names she mentioned were the Christies, Vanns, Doubleheads, Fourkillers, Boneys, Nakedhead, Smiths, and Balleu.
Both Rocky Mountain and Echota were thriving communities in early statehood, and numerous articles appear about them in old Adair County newspapers. The March 13, 1908, edition of the Adair County Democrat, relates that the County Commissioners ordered that a road be established, beginning at Stilwell and extending west to Rocky Mount Schoolhouse, a distance of ten miles.
In “Horn News” of the same newspaper, it was reported that Mr. and Mrs. Tom Horn made a trip to the Rocky Mount settlement on Sunday. Evidently, Horn School had a baseball team that was known as “the Horn Nine,” and they “got fanned a little Thursday by Stilwell High School on an excusable reason.” The writer went on to brag that the team did some fine playing on Saturday and concluded by saying, “Hurray boys! They routed Rocky Mount.”
Echota news was included in with the “Rocky Mountain Items” column, and the August 19, 1915, edition informed the reader that Fairfield singing class attended the singing convention at Echota last Sunday. It also mentioned that Rev. J.B. Acorn preached at Echota Church, and that he performed the recent marriage of Walter Christie and Miss Jennie Mankiller. Wishes were expressed for the couple to have a “long and happy married life.”
The County Superintendent praised Rocky Mount School in the January 11, 1917, edition of The Standard-Sentinel, stating that “until just recently the Rocky Mount School was taught in a little insignificant box school house, but see her now. She has one of the most modern one-room school buildings in Adair County, and they are proud of it. This is a coming country and district.” He went on to say that the very successful teacher, C.C. Shackleford, had enrolled 53 students.
The November 10, 1921, Adair County Democrat, reported that C. O. Turman of Echota, Oklahoma, was in town on business Wednesday. He was described as the “owner of a big stock farm” and as a raiser of Aberdeen-Angus tock. The article also mentioned that Echota is a new post office just established.
In an examination of the oldest school records in ACH&GA’s possession, dated January 1930, many parents listed Echota as their post office when they enrolled their children in Rocky Mountain School. Here are a few examples. Pearl Sitton enrolled Millard, Lyndon, Floyd, and Irene Sitton; Fannie Christie enrolled Bessie, Ray, Mark, Phillip, and Elizabeth Christie; John Mankiller enrolled Smoke Christie; Goodmoney Thirste (Thirsty?) enrolled Tom Nix, Rachel Thirste, Redwing Thirste, Adam (?) Thirste, and William Thirste; John Tidwell enrolled Kate Coffee, John Tidwell, Jr., William Tidwell, Floyd Tidwell, and Elija Tidwell; Tim Hummingbird enrolled Betsey, Alex, Lela (?), Susie, and Charlie Hummingbird, and Lee Johnson enrolled Anna Bell, Jennie Mae, Monroe Johnson, and Mary (Mankiller)Nofire enrolled Sam Nofire and Lucy Gritts.
This last enrollee, Lucy Gritts, was especially interesting because she and her sister, Anna Gritts, were direct descendants of the great Sequoyah. Anna would become known for her translations of rare Cherokee documents into English, as well as co-authoring several books with her husband, famous composer Jack Kilpatrick, related to Cherokee folklore and history. Jack Kilpatrick’s unique memorial can be found in Echota Cemetery, located on the grounds of the old Echota Church.
A more recent famous gravesite is located at Echota Cemetery. Cherokee Chief Wilma Pearl Mankiller, November 18, 1945—April 6, 2010, is at rest near the community where she spent her childhood, Mankiller Flats in Rocky Mountain.
