The Seven Springs Museum has many local artifacts and relics of the past on exhibit and display. Many of which were donated to the Seven Springs Historical Society for the museum. Most came from the families of the early settlers and pioneers. Other items are collections donated by local relic hunters. All these items saved help to preserve the past of Powder Springs for the future.

The first people to live on this land were the Indians before the white man came. The Cherokee and Creek had discovered the seven springs located in the area around Powder Creek were rich in mineral deposits that were beneficial to their health and wellbeing and healing the sick. Around 1819 the first pioneer families came and began building log cabin homes. They, also, found that the springs were good for medicinal purposes.

There is no indication that there was any trouble between the Indians and the settlers. By all accounts they lived together peaceably until 1838 when the Indians were forced to leave and relocate to Oklahoma on what is now called the Trail of Tears. Numerous artifacts from the Cherokee and Creek Indians have been found around Powder Springs verifying their presence here and as being part of our history.

In a large open area in the Baptist Cemetery in downtown Powder Springs, it is believed to have Indians buried there in unmarked graves before 1840 **. The first marked burial in 1840 was that of the daughter (W. J aud Kiser) of on early pioneer settler.

The Indian Artifacts and Relic Collection Display at the museum is the personal collection of Tom Dupree who was a local relic hunter and member of the Historical Society. The items were found in Powder Springs. The only item not found in Powder Springs but was part of his personal collection is the Shookum Indian Doll. The Doll is a Native American Doll originally made by Mary Dwyer McAboy, Missoula, Montana. It was manufactured by H. H. Tammin Co., LA, and distributed by Arrow Novelty Company 1920 – 1930 and sold as a souvenir.

Some of the most interesting items in the display case are the clay pot effigies such as a frog, a pig and a ram. Also a pair of moccasins and a beaded sash. There are flint rocks, stones, arrow heads, stone hoe, pottery bowls, a grinding bowl with a stone mallet and shards of other pottery used by the Indians in everyday life.

Also, pottery found by Virginia Tapp around Noses Creek which is located going toward Marietta on Powder Springs Road. Be sure to visit the museum to see this collection as well as the other items and materials related to the American Indian on display – books, maps, etc. One book, “Our Wild Indians” by Colonel Richard Irving Dodge (1827-1895) and General Sherman is of particular interest as it tells about Colonel Dodge’s thirty three years of experience among the ‘Red Men of the Great West’. This edition appears to be an original published in 1882.

The documentation on some of the above was taken from information already compiled by local historians, including Sarah Frances Miller, and is on file in the museums Research Room.

** In December of 2017, the Seven Springs Historical Society contracted with Omega Mapping Services to do a ground penetrating radar survey of the large open area in the Baptist Cemetery to locate unmarked graves. 135 graves were identified, some of which were buried deeper than usual indicating much earlier burials than 1840 and could possibly be Indian burials. These graves have now been marked with lot markers 3 ½ inch stainless steel discs and 10inch zinc coated bolts or pins. They can be located using metal detectors.

Loren Baker, Historian and Historical Society Member, took a map of the cemetery provided by Omega Mapping, enlarging and mark all the graves. Loren has also done a lot of research on the Baptist Cemetery and put together information on all those buried there. The map is on display at the museum in the Research Room. The notebook Loren compiled on all the burials is on display in the main room of the museum.