THE Chief Vann house now has a memorial tablet which marks the residence of Joseph Vann and reads like this:
"This Tablet marks the residence of Joseph Vann, a chief of the Cherokee Indians, built late in the Eighteenth Century.
"John Howard Payne, illustrious author of 'Home Sweet Home,' suspicioned of sedition, was brought to this house, examined and exonerated by the Georgia authorities. Near here stood the first Moravian Mission of the Cherokces.
"This historic spot is marked by the Governor John Milledge Chapter, D. A. R., Dalton, Ga., 1915."
The old Indian or Chief Vann house has a large spacious yard with many beautiful shade trees, and in this yard is said to be a pot of money buried there by the Indians, but no one has been able to locate it. I have played around this yard many a day with my white playmates, Mr. Edmondson's children and others. The house is now occupied by Mr. John Cox, and owned by Dr. J. E. Bradford. The latter has had the front porch remodeled, both upstairs and down, and the upstairs porch is raised about six or seven inches higher than the former one built by the Indians. The front of the house which faces the south, has four white columns imitating white marble posts. The door to the entrance of the house has a large arch, hand carved and pegged, which was made by the Indians. The roomy hall is seventeen and a half feet wide with a beautiful hanging stairway, the banisters of which are hand shaped and carved in many beautiful designs, and on which not a nail was used; they are pegged together where needed.
The walls on the outside are sixteen inches wide in which the Indians had secret money drawers that were unnoticeable to any one else. The inside walls are twelve inches of solid brick. All of the brick and material of which the house is made are said to have been sent from England to Savannah and then hauled from Savannah in an oxcart to Spring Place where the house now stands. The fire places are five feet wide and have a hand carved mantel that reaches up to the ceiling or plastering.
The windows are also hand carved and slope in, being thirty-two inches wide, which is a beautiful sight to any natural eye.
The door hinges: The door hinges break in the center and have an extra large brass lift hook.
The basement: The basement has two nice rooms and the one on the west facing the Cleveland road is where John Howard Payne was kept as a prisoner until examed by the Georgia authorities.
The garret: Oh! up in the beautiful garret, where I was often put in prison, are two beautiful little windows and it is floored with about one and a half foot plank, plastered with smooth white plastering, and the corners instead of being square are rounding. Each room has a small vacant place, or room, on each side which is said to have been the Indians' spying places.
The base boards: The base boards in the rooms are made of plank that measure thirty-five inches wide.
A part of the house has been taken away and built back by the white people.
The house: In the dining room was a long table at which about fifteen or twenty could be served.
In those days people used fly brushes, so Mrs. Rebecka had a large one over the table with a great long string that reached to the other end of the dining room and I had to pull the string. Oh! how I would pull and watch the white folks eat. They would eat and sit there and talk until I would get so hungry looking at the food my mouth would water. I always got plenty to eat, but just to stand there and look at the good food would make me hungry.
Memoirs Of A Slave