About Goingsnake District Heritage Association

The G.D.H.A. is a non-profit history organization established in 1979 for the purpose of researching, preserving and disseminating knowledge of Cherokee history, culture and lineage, for the Going Snake District as well as all of the historic Cherokee Nation.  G.D.H.A. is the only group in Oklahoma specializing in the history of one of the nine districts of the Cherokee Nation.  The association meets monthly for membership meetings held at the John F. Henderson Public Library in Westville, Oklahoma.  Meetings include presentations highlighting various historical themes of Cherokee history. Presentations also include biographical and genealogical programs.  Twice each year, G.D.H.A. publishes a Cherokee history journal entitled The Goingsnake Messenger.  The association has published the journal since 1984.  For more than forty years the Goingsnake District Heritage Association has labored to preserve Cherokee history and culture and share it with others through educational meetings and publications.

In January 1839, Going Snake arrived in the Cherokee Nation West and settled near Ward Branch, about two miles south of present Ballard in Adair County, Oklahoma, and about five miles north of present Westville. At that location he built his home.