(5-02) Oklahoma Historical Society's George M. Murrell Historic House (1845)
 
Panorama
 
Selections from the Oklahoma Historical Society Visitors Guide:
  
Hunter's Home, named for its owner's fondness for fox hunting, was built around 1845 for George and Minerva Murrell, probably by slave labor. The Murrells had moved to Park Hill at the time of the Trail of Tears (1839) with Minerva's extended family. Her uncle John Ross, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, also built a fine home ("Rose Cottage") one half mile to the east. These two houses were centers of social and political activity for the next dozen years, as the Cherokee Nation rapidly rebuilt itself into a model of progressive civilization.
 
The Civil War brought more death and destruction to the Cherokee Nation than to any southern state. Old factions were reawakened as Cherokee warriors chose sides in the conflict. Women, children and the elderly were left to fend for themselves in a landscape filled with burning and looting. Before leaving for Virginia, Amanda Murrell asked her aunt Eliza and cousin E. Jane Ross to move in and protect the house. Hunter's Home survived repeated raids, probably escaping destruction because of its ties to both the Union and Confederacy

(5-02) Entrance