name for New Echota was "Newtown" or "New Town." These names are still used for the area around the State Park. Later Anglo-American settlers called the area "The Fork" and "Fork Ferry" because of early transportation at the confluence of the rivers. By 1819 the government of the Cherokee Nation was meeting in New Echota. On November 12, 1825, the Cherokee Nation officially designated New Echota as their capital. They had organized a council, and supreme court to adjudicate their justice issues. The tribal council began a building program that included construction of a two-story Council House, and a Supreme Court. Later they built the office (printer shop) for the Cherokee Phoenix, the first Indian-language and Cherokee newspaper. Elias Boudinot was the chief writer and editor. Samuel Worcester, a missionary and printer, laid out the first Native American newspaper. Boudinot wrote it in both English and Cherokee, using for the latter the new syllabary created in 1820 by Sequoyah, with type cast by Worcester. Private homes, stores, a ferry, and mission station were built in the outlying area of New Echota. The town was quiet most of the year, but Cherokee Council meetings provided the opportunity for great social gatherings. During these meetings, the town filled with several hundred Cherokee, who arrived by foot, horseback, or in stylish carriages. In 1832, after Congressional passage of the Indian Removal Act, Georgia included Cherokee territory in its Sixth Land Lottery, allocating Cherokee land to European-American (white) settlers. But the Cherokee Nation had never ceded the land to the state. Although the US Supreme Court upheld the Cherokee right to their land, Georgia continued to press for them to cede it. Over the next six years, the Georgia Guard operated against the Cherokee, evicting them from their properties. By 1834, New Echota was becoming a ghost town. Council meetings were moved to Red Clay, Cherokee Nation (now Tennessee). The United States urged the Cherokee to remove to Indian Territory, offering lands in exchange for their lands in Georgia. On December 29, 1835, a small group of Cherokee (100–500 Cherokee known as Ridgeites or the Treaty Party, who represented a minority of Cherokee) signed the Treaty of New Echota in the home of Elias Boudinot. Signers included Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Andrew Ross, a brother of John Ross, the principal chief. Believing that the negotiation would allow them to preserve some rights for