Confusion abounds about a small cemetery on John Delk Road in the Edneyville community.
Legend passed down through the generations in stories and folk tales tells about a small group of Cherokee who lived in the area of Point Lookout.
The group of Indians was led by a man the settlers called “Big Jack” or “Chief Jack” because he was said to be well over 6 feet tall. He rode a small pony and he was so tall his feet would drag the ground as he rode.
One day his pony stumbled on a steep trail and he was thrown. His head hit a rock and fractured his skull.
Legend states he was buried in a hollow log with his possessions on a ridge above the “village” or community where the Indians lived.
The late Cecil Nix Sr. took Frank Fitzsimons, author of the books “From the Banks of the Oklawaha,” to the grave site of what many people call “Indian Jack.” Nix told of uncovering the grave and finding the skull and some of the possessions. He could tell the skull had been fractured. The grave was left as it was and covered back.
In 1993, the late Alfred Nix, his son, told in a story that was published in the Hendersonville Times-News and written by Jennie Jones Giles, that a target tree was found below the grave site.
Sources in Cherokee told Giles that it was possible that this section of the county was where the Cherokee came for the stone to make arrowheads. Many artifacts and arrowheads have been found in the area. The Cherokee used target trees to test the newly made arrowheads.
The late Kelly Jackson said that “Indian Jack” was not an Indian. He was a white settler named Jack Case who married an Indian and traded with the Indians before the Revolutionary War.
The Nix family protected the small graveyard locals call the “Indian graveyard” for many years. Apple trees were planted around the small island of trees protecting the grave sites.
The property containing the grave sites is currently owned by Joel Reed.