Southern Cherokee Nation of Kentucky ( SCNK ) is an unrecognized tribe based in Kentucky . Members of the SCNK claim descent from the Cherokee forcibly removed to Indian Territory in 1838 , and to have first emerged as a distinct political faction known as the Treaty Party before the Trail of Tears , c. 1835 . They report having fled Indian territory , after the American Civil War , c. 1871 for Kentucky to escape Reconstruction era violence . The City of Henderson , Kentucky published a proclamation stating they have been headquartered there since the late 19th century , and according to the '' State-Journal '' of Frankfort , Kentucky , they are assumed to be the oldest Native American presence in the Commonwealth of Kentucky . The SCNK states it had an estimated one thousand members as of 2009 , living in several US states , and that it is " not affiliated with any other group calling themselves Southern Cherokee "
Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Southern Cherokee Nation of Kentucky