Chattahoochee, Florida

History

The area was inhabited by indigenous people who, during the Mississippian era, built earthwork mounds in the area called the Chattahoochee Landing Mounds. It was later occupied by the Creek people, who were eventually pushed out by European encroachment from the Spanish and British, and later on, white Americans.

After European-Americans settled in this area in the early 19th century, residents first named the community "Mount Vernon" in the 1820s. This was in honor of former President George Washington's Virginia plantation.

The community was later renamed "Chattahoochee" because the U.S. Postal Service kept confusing the mail with Mount Vernon, Alabama. Chattahoochee is a name derived from the Creek-Muskogee language, meaning "marked rocks", from chato ("rock") plus huchi ("marked"), and was named after the rocks found along the Chattahoochee River that looked "painted" or "marked".

The British had built a fort, Nicolls' Outpost, when they controlled the area. The Scott Massacre of 1817 took place here. A ferry was established to give travelers and tradesmen access to other settlements across the river.

The community has been a colonial settlement since the 1820s, and was officially incorporated as the "Town of Chattahoochee" on January 22, 1834, later becoming the City of Chattahoochee in 1921.

From the History section of Chattahoochee, Florida on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.