The piece of North America called Cherokee County lay unchanged for thousands of years, rich in natural resources. Trees and rivers covered its hills, and Native Americans - the Creek and Cherokee - lived and worked and fought there. Through the 1700's most of north Georgia was officially recognized as Cherokee territory, and remained sparsely populated.

Then in 1828 gold was discovered - the first gold rush in the United States, an event which would dramatically shape the history of the state. The gold belt stretched across north Georgia in a band ten miles wide, its southern end resting in present day Cherokee County. The United States government determined that the land needed to be opened to new settlers. Within ten years the government had revoked all agreements with the Cherokees, removing them to a reservation in Oklahoma along a path that was dubbed "The Trail of Tears," for the number of native Americans who died along the way.

In two separate land lotteries, Cherokee County was divided into lots and awarded to the flood of eager white settlers. The land was wilderness no more.

Living on the Land

The discovery of gold propelled the settlement of Cherokee County. But most of Georgia's prospectors left in 1849 at the beginning of the California Gold Rush. Cherokee's residents turned to other ventures and uses for the land. These included lumber production, marble finishing, textile manufacturing, and most visibly today, farming.

Cherokee's northern hills are still graced by barns and farmhouses, fenced pastures and horses. These rapidly disappearing spaces define much of the county's beauty. Residents and elected officials struggle for compromise in shaping the region's growth, striving to paint a balanced composition of economic growth, preservation, and desirable lifestyle.

Small Towns

Modern building materials, cars, and interstate highways have given small towns a picturesque look that is nothing more than the functionality of yesteryear.

Today, community leaders in many places strive to preserve the historic character of small towns. As multi-lane roads become congested, and new neighborhoods assume a sprawling aspect, people find themselves drawn to the charms of traditional communities. The smaller scale of the pedestrian friendly town has begun to appear on the palette of city planners once again.

The Suburbs

In 1988 the construction of Cherokee County's first planned community began, called Towne Lake. It was an ambitious project with the potential to increase the rural county's population eightfold, with more than 6,000 homes on 3,700 acres.

Eventually, it did much more than that. With the arrival of Towne Lake, the county lost its rural character almost overnight. Turning its face to the south, it had joined with the ever-widening circle of Atlanta's suburbs.

Today, Cherokee's newest developments paint a modern picture of the American lifestyle. House colors, mailboxes and flower beds are monitored by neighborhood associations for uniformity. Residents sacrifice a measure of independence for the vision of a safe and prosperous haven in which to live and raise children.

Beyond Cherokee

Five hundred years ago Cherokee County was an uncharted wilderness, inhabited by animals and a few men, its connections to the larger world unperceived. Now the land is crisscrossed by highways and cable lines and unseen transmissions through the air.

Today's world shelters few insulated communities. In Cherokee we hale from all parts of the country. We visit far corners of the globe, because we can. We pay attention to what happens there, because we must. When two skyscrapers fall a thousand miles away, we feel their impact.

The canvas of our world is being painted by six billion fellow artists. It's nearly impossible to conceive of a work on this scale, but that is the attempt we must make. For our part of the painting is connected to the larger one. The better understanding we have of the world, the better able we are to paint the part that is ours.

Perhaps the brushstroke today is simply going to work, or feeding a child, or perhaps it is something on a larger scale - shaping a law, leading volunteers. But whatever it is, we can better shape our world when we start at the beginning: with the eagerness to look, the willingness to learn, and the intent to understand.

We all have American Visions. America, more than even a land, is an idea. She is the ultimate Vision, an entity that grants us freedoms enjoyed at no other place and time in history. Yet the composition is not a balanced one, unless we ourselves add the final brushstrokes - the defining outlines of responsibility. These alone create the masterpiece, an image of a better place: for ourselves, for the global community, and for our children.

May we strive each day to paint a Vision better than what has come before.