Park Hill is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in southwestern Cherokee County, Oklahoma in the United States. The population was 3,909 at the 2010 census. It lies near Tahlequah, east of the junction of U.S. Route 62 and State Highway 82.Founded in 1838, Park Hill became the home of many important Cherokee leaders, including John Ross after their removal from the southeastern U.S. It has been called "the center of Cherokee culture."HistoryPark Hill was the "home base" for many of the Cherokee after coming from the East on the "Trail of Tears". In 1829 the Park Hill Mission was established. The mission had one of the earliest presses in Oklahoma, the Park Hill Publishing House. The first post office was established at Park Hill on May 18, 1838, with Samuel Newton as postmaster. It was in Park Hill that Chief John Ross made his home in 1839, as well as his brother-in-law George Murrell, whose home still stands. On May 6, 1847, the post office was moved to Tahlequah. The Cherokee Female Seminary was built here in 1849.Park Hill was the center of culture for the Cherokees for many years, and as such in 1940 the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in Oklahoma erected a marker at Park Hill declaring it the "Center of Cherokee culture".
