By 1813-14, white settlers were coming in large numbers following Andrew Jackson's Fort Deposit Road, many as squatters on the Cherokee Indian Reservation. After the government began selling the land in 1830, Robert Owen bought 80 acres along the Fort Deposit Road, and in 1832 he platted the town of New Hope, with elections held in 1836. Owen located the New Hope Methodist Church and cemetery on this hill, where local lore suggests the first white settlers were buried in the early 1820s. The oldest marked grave dates to 1833 and is the burial of Minerva Kennebrugh, wife of local merchant John Kennebrugh. Robert Owen and his wife Martha are buried there beneath tall obelisks, and the cemetery also contains 14 stacked stone burials, at least 50 unknown graves, and identified burials of 22 Confederate veterans, 12 medical doctors, and six mayors. In 1995, the town formed a cemetery board and began restoration and maintenance. The surrounding area lay at the center of a 12-square-mile tract set aside in 1819 for the preservation of Cherokee Indian Schools and was offered for sale by the federal government on October 1, 1830. Robert Owen bought 80 acres on October 5, 1830, and James McCartney registered the adjoining 80 acres on October 10, 1830. Owen and McCartney had the town of Vienna platted in 1832, followed by incorporation and the first mayoral election in 1836. For nearly 50 years the town was named Vienna, though its postal address was New Hope after the Methodist Church. Federal troops burned Vienna on December 15, 1864, but by 1879 the town had been rebuilt and reincorporated as New Hope. After a sixth reincorporation in 1956, the town continued to thrive despite devastating floods from the Paint Rock River in 1886, 1916, and 1973.