Before European colonization, this area was home to a variety of Indigenous peoples. Mainly the tribes of the Muscogee and the Cherokee. The Muscogee primarily resided to the south of the Chattahoochee River while the Cherokee to the north. Though both tribes traveled across the river for trade and other activities. Each tribe operated ferries across the river to trade goods amongst the tribes as well as with European settlers. Members of the tribes would also traverse and trade along the Etowah Trail which passed right through modern-day Dunwoody. The trail spanned from Augusta up into the Appalachian mountains in Northeast Georgia.
In the early 19th century, the Muscogee tribe signed several treaties with the United States ceding their territory. In 1825, Chief Willian McIntosh signed the second Treaty of Indian Springs which ceded all Lower Muscogee land in Georgia. Though the signing of this treaty was done under manipulation by the Georgia Governor, George Troup. McIntosh also signed the treaty without a clear mandate from the Muscogee tribe and their government. President John Quincy Adams declared the treaty illegal and signed a different treaty, the Second Treaty of Washington, with the Muscogee tribe. Governor Troup, however, refused to recognize the Second Treaty of Washington and continued the forceful removal of the Muscogee from their land. President Adams did not push the issue, saying that, “The Indians are not worth going to war over.” This continued the removal of the Muscogee out of Georgia into reservations in Oklahoma. By 1827 nearly all of the Muscogee were gone from the state.
The Cherokee faced a similar fate. In 1829 gold was discovered in Dahlonega, deep in Cherokee territory, prompting the state of Georgia to begin seizing Cherokee land in search of profit. This urged the Federal Government, now led by President Andrew Jackson, to enact the Indian Removal Act. This act allowed the federal government to seize indigenous lands in exchange for reservation land located west of the Mississippi River. The Cherokee did not acquiesce to the United States Government’s demands to take their land. The tribe took the state of Georgia to court, and after a series of legal victories for the Cherokee cause, ultimately, the United States government decided to ignore its own judicial system. In the winter of 1838, the Cherokee were forced by the United States Army and militiamen to march from their homes to reservations out in Oklahoma. There were around 15,000 Cherokee who started this march, when they reached the Oklahoma reservations around 9,000 remained. This march is now known as the Trail of Tears.