It is located in Murray County, on the outskirts of Chatsworth in northwest Georgia, which has a commanding view of the land around it and of the Cohutta Mountains, about 10 miles (16 km) to the east.

When James Vann was rising to become the wealthiest businessman and chief in the Cherokee Nation, he decided to build a two-story brick house which would reflect his status.

These bricks came from the red clay located on the Spring Place Plantation (Vann House) property.

The lead brick mason of this house, Robert Henry Howell, was born in Virginia and died in 1834.

On one side of the main entrance, which initially faced the Federal Road, and works as a set of scales for weight distribution.

The staircase, suspended over the first-floor hallway, roughly six inches of the opposite side of the stairway, is in a solid brick wall.

Instead, President Monroe went to a nearby location, The Vann House, which he found more comfortable than the mission, so he asked Rich Joe permission to spend the night.

[citation needed] After the Georgia Gold Rush, Rich Joe hired a white man, a Mr. Howel,[2] to run Vann House.

Leading up to the Cherokee Trail of Tears, Rich Joe and his family were caught amid the struggle between two opposing claims for the house.

Colonel William Bishop and the infamous Georgia Guard tried to take over the house on the grounds of his hiring a white man without a permit.

To get rid of Riley, Bishop took a smoldering log and threw it on the cantilevered steps to smoke him out, causing some damage to the house.

Although Vann and his family lost their home and property, he later sued for the loss and was awarded $19,605 by the government as compensation, which was nearly double its value of $10,000 at the time.

[2] In November of that year, Colonel Bishop imprisoned John Howard Payne for 13 days on the grounds of the house.

Rich Joe and his family were finally forced out of the house in March 1835 and moved to Webbers Falls, Oklahoma by following the Trail of Tears.

It took six years to complete, and included demolishing this additional room that was not present in the original house and repainting the home according to its classic color scheme.

Today it is administered by the Parks, Recreation, and Historic Sites division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

The new center also highlights the lives of Chiefs James and Joseph Vann, as well as featuring the history of the Cherokee Nation over the past 200 years, including the infamous Trail of Tears.