A collection of stories and family genealogies about the Murrell and Ross families who settled at Park Hill before or by the early 1840s. John and Lewis Ross were prominent in Cherokee affairs, and George Murrell was Lewis Ross's son-in-law, having married two of Lewis Ross's daughters.
Hunter's Home, built by Goerge Murrel, is a testament of high times for these families before the Civil War. After hostilities began, those who could went North, South, and East. Other stayed, and with neighbors endured hunger, fear, and depredation.
After the War, many family members returned to the Cherokee Nation, but others chose to seek their fortunes elsewhere, such as the Creek and Choctaw Nations or ancestral homes in Virginia or developing property in Louisiana. These are their stories.
The house went through a long period of neglect before it was rescued. Its restoration and maintenance by one and all has been a labor of love, appreciation, and devotion.
Author, Shirley Pettengill, holds a degree in Anthropology from both Colorado State University and the University of Arizona with an emphasis in museum studies. She has spent 25+ years researching the history of the Murrell and Ross families and was instrumental in creating the Friends of the Murrell Home, which assists with restoration and preservation of the site.