Oconee Town Site celebrated Friday

An event Friday attracted around 80 people for a celebration of Oconee County Cherokee Indian heritage.  The event was held at the Oconee State Park, not far from a second state park called Oconee Station State Historic Site.  That second park lies adjacent to newly-acquired property that was the location of Oconee Town Site which Luther Lyle of the Museum of the Cherokee says is steeped in local history.  To make Friday’s event further memorable, buses full of Oconee County third graders took part.  And Lyle, a retired teacher, says the event proved educational to children about the local heritage of Native Americans.  Recently, some 50 acres of what was once the site of Cherokee “Lower Towns” in the 1700s was purchased and is being donated to the South Carolina Department of Parks,, Recreation and Tourism, which operates the state parks.