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During the Revolutionary War period, a Cherokee chief named Ama Kanasta, which translates to “sweet water” in English, had his wigwam near what is now Lithia Springs, Georgia. In addition to the needs of hunting game and kindling council fires, Chief Ama Kanasta may have had an additional interest in residing at this particular location. It is said he believed in the healing virtue of the water and therefore, would gather his tribe in close proximity to the spring.

On the granite surrounding the spring, seats appear to have been chiseled out by early inhabitants to form an amphitheater. Tribal members may have sat in these seats while praying for healing. In addition, there is also evidence that the area may have been used as a “resort” during the time of the Revolutionary War. By the end of 1838, however, the United States had removed the Cherokees from this land through what today is known as “The Trail of Tears.”

Despite the absence today of these early, if not first, inhabitants of the Douglasville area, Georgia’s longest creek bears the translated name of Chief Ama Kanasta, “Sweetwater”. His name in its original Cherokee form was at one time selected as the name of for an earlier Douglasville area DAR chapter – the Ama Kanasta Chapter. This chapter organized March 29, 1921 and disbanded December 30, 1933.

Many decades later, the Douglasville area chapter’s originating members believed it fitting to name its new chapter for the same early inhabitant of the Douglas County area. This time, however, the chief’s name was used in its English translation.  The NSDAR Board of Management confirmed the Sweetwater Chapter on December 6, 2003.