McIntosh Reserve: The Experience

Executive Summary and Presentation | 26 April 2023

Carmody | Falola | Ritten | Rogers | Stanley

Overview: This program is developed around the 200th anniversary (2025) of the death of Chief William McIntosh at the
hands of his people (the Muscogee Creek). We employ the story of the Muscogee Creek Nation and Indian Removal to
create a public program that connects to current issues. It involves both indoor and outdoor, group and individual activities.

Mission: We acknowledge the land on which we live and work is not ours but was taken from multiple Indigenous nations
and tribes. McIntosh Reserve, and Carroll County, are the homeland of the Muscogee people. With this program, we aim to
create a much more accessible resource that may be employed by a wide audience to learn and understand more inclusive
and holistic histories. We encourage exploration and engagement through multiple platforms to appeal to different learning
styles. Our goal is to bring the Muscogee back into the story of William McIntosh and McIntosh Reserve and highlight the
reasons behind McIntosh's death. Our hope is to change the language with which we use to discuss history, especially
difficult topics, and change the way in which we view historical sites, notably those resting on Indigenous land. We intend
to present the Muscogee Creek as a people of today, not a people of the past.

Themes: Muscogee Creek, William McIntosh, Indian Removal, Second Treaty of Indian Springs

Audience:
➔ Website and Guided Tour: Open Audience, all age-groups
➔ Webquest: 8th Grade Georgia History Students

Components and Deliverables

1. Webquest: A worksheet designed to allow students to further engage topics on Indigenous people, specifically, in
this example, the Creek; William McIntosh's life, death, and legacy; and the major political decisions affecting
Indian Removal in the 1820s.
2. Guided Tour: Takes visitors on a hike through the park, including McIntosh’s grave and dogtrot cabin and the
lake, main field, river, creek, and Council Bluff. Aims to promote more discussion with Reserve rangers and
scholars through the presentation of more in-depth information while guided through the physical space of the
park.
3. Website: McIntosh Reserve: The Experience: An accessible forum for exploring McIntosh Reserve and its
associated themes. Includes Immersive Experiences of the cabin, brief overviews of each of the themes, and access
to the Guided Tour and Webquest. https://sites.google.com/westga.edu/mcintoshreserve/home

Roles:
➔ Carmody: Recorded sample tour, wrote portions of the tour script, strategically planned with group for broad
goals and products, edited and published sample tour.
➔ Falola: Assisted in recording the guided tour video, wrote portions of the script for the tour, aided in edited the
script, revised sections of other team members’ work and the deliverables
➔ Ritten: Researched and provided relevant Georgia State Standards, researched the McIntosh cabin and period
furniture/objects, created the webquest, created the object document.
➔ Rogers: Coordinated the project folder and meetings, conducted initial research on McIntosh, created the floor
plan for the cabin, took videos and photos of the cabin, created the website, uploaded team materials to the
website, created Executive Summary, designed and printed presentation materials.
➔ Stanley: Helped guide sample tour, wrote portions of the tour script and revised, designed tour map, worked with
group to determine individual goals and long term project goals, researched Muskogee culture and history for tour
script.