In the early 19th century, the Johns Creek area was dotted with trading posts along the Chattahoochee River in what was then Cherokee territory. The Cherokee nation at the time was a confederacy of agrarian villages led by a chief. However, after Europeans colonized the area, the Cherokee developed an alphabet, and a legislature and judiciary system patterned after the American model.
Some trading posts gradually became crossroads communities where pioneer families – Rogers, McGinnis, Findley, Buice, Cowart, Medlock and others – gathered to visit and sell their crops.
By 1820, the community of Sheltonville (or Shakerag), was a ferry crossing site, with the McGinnis Ferry and Rogers Ferry carrying people and livestock across the river for a small fee. Further south, the Nesbit Ferry did the same near another crossroads community known as Newtown.
Learn more about Johns Creek.