Welcome by Ken Blankenship 3 An Introduction to Cherokee History and Culture 7 A Timeline of Cherokee History 41 Traveling the Trails 43

1. Cherokee People Today: Cherokee, North Carolina 45 SITES IN CHEROKEE Museum of the Cherokee Indian 52 Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual 56 Oconaluftee Indian Village and Living History Museum 57 Bigmeet Pottery 60 Talking Trees at Oconaluftee Island Park 62 SITES NEAR CHEROKEE Mingo Falls 65 William Holland Thomas Marker at Campground Cemetery 69 Cherokee United Methodist Church and Keener Cabin 71 SIDE TRIPS Kituhwa Mound and Deep Creek 72 Mountain Farm Museum and Clingman’s Dome 76 Cullowhee and Jackson County Sites 79 Cataloochee Valley 81 SCENIC DRIVE Blue Ridge Parkway from Cherokee to Spruce Pine 82 EVENTS Cherokee Spring Ramp Festival 100 Unto These Hills Outdoor Drama 103 Cherokee Voices Festival at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian 104 Mountain Heritage Day 105 Cherokee Fall Fair at Cherokee Ceremonial Grounds 107

2.Snowbird Community and junaluska: Robbinsville, North Carolina in SITES IN ROBBINSVILLE Junaluska Memorial and Museum 118 SITES NEAR ROBBINSVILLE Tatham Gap Trail 124 SIDE TRIPS Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest 127 Stecoah Valley Center 130 Nantahala Gorge 130 SCENIC DRIVE Cherohala Skyway 132 EVENTS Fading Voices Festival 135 Trail of Tears Singing, Brush Arbor Singing 136 Annual Wreath Laying at Junaluska Memorial 139

3. The Middle Towns: Franklin, North Carolina 141 SITES IN FRANKLIN Nikwasi Mound 151 Little Tennessee River Greenway 155 Scottish Tartans Museum and Heritage Center 156 Macon County Historical Society and Battle Marker 157 SIDE TRIPS Wayah Bald and Wayah Gap 158 Standing Indian 161 Waterfalls and Whiteside Mountain 166 SCENIC DRIVES Middle Towns —us 441 South to Dillard 169 Middle Towns—nc 28 North 171 Wayah and Beyond-Appletree and Nantahala 174 Chunky Gal and Shooting Creek 176

4. The Leech Place and the Trail of Tears: Murphy, North Carolina 177 SITES IN MURPHY Cherokee County Historical Museum 187 Fort Butler 189 SITES NEAR MURPHY Rivercane Walk at the John C. Campbell Folk School 192 SIDE TRIPS us 64 through Peachtree to Hayesville 195 Valleytowns Baptist Mission 199 Fort Hembree 202 Clay County Historical and Arts Council Museum 203 SCENIC DRIVE us 19 through the Valley Towns 206

5. The Overhill Towns and Sequoyah: Vonore, Tennessee 211 SITES IN VONORE Sequoyah Birthplace Museum 217 Fort Loudoun State Historic Area 224 Tellico Blockhouse 226 SIDE TRIP Knoxville Loop 227 SCENIC DRIVES Overhill Towns Driving Loop 233 Warriors’ Path to Hiwassee Old Town 242 Hiwassee Old Town—the Overhill Frontier 243 Unicoi Turnpike Trail 244 EVENTS Sequoyah Birthplace Museum Festival 250 Fort Loudoun Trade Faire 250 Christmas at Fort Loudoun 251

6. Cherokee Removal: Red Clay, Tennessee 253 Red Clay State Historic Park 256 SITES NEAR RED CLAY Nancy Ward Gravesite 266 Fort Marr 270 SIDE TRIPS Athens, Tennessee, Sites 272 Charleston, Tennessee, Sites 273 Blythe’s Ferry—Cherokee Memorial Park 281 Chattanooga 284 Turtletown and Coker Creek 288 EVENTS Cherokee Days of Recognition at Red Clay 294 Nineteenth-Century Cherokee Christmas 294

7. Cherokee Renaissance New Echota, Georgia 295 New Echota State Historic Site 306 Chief Vann House State Historic Site 308 SITES NEAR NEW ECHOTA Chieftains’ Museum—the Major Ridge Home 311 Etowah Indian Mounds State Historic Site 315 SIDE TRIP Fort Mountain State Park 317 SCENIC DRIVES Sites in North Georgia 320 Sites in Northeast Georgia 326 EVENTS Christmas Candlelight Tours at New Echota and the Vann House 329 Calendar of Events 333 Four Cherokee Stories 339 For Further Reading 353 Genealogical Resources on Cherokee Heritage Trails 355 Acknowledgments 359 Index 363

FEATURED ARTICLES The Cherokee Story of Creation 9 Notes on Pronouncing Words in the Cherokee Language Qualla Boundary—the Land 48 8 § Duyuktv 54 39 Indian Dinners 58 Chiehng in Cherokee 63 The Little People of Stoney Mountain 66 Yonaguska and the Gospel of Matthew 71 Cherokee Names in Big Cove 85 The Raven Rock Dancers 87 Greens (poem) 101 Health and the Land 106 Fontana (poem) 113 Junaluska 122 Removal of the Cheoah Cherokees, June 1838 125 We’re Still Here 127 The Mound-Building Ceremony 136 Mounds 146 Occupation of Nikwasi 154 The Great Yellow-Jacket 159 Sand Town Indians 164 Spearfinger 168 The Leech Place 179 The Owle Family on the Trail of Tears 183 The Trail of Tears Basket 191 The First Time I Saw a White Man 200 The Removed Townhouses 204 Gathering Blessings 206 Cherokee Architecture 215 The Story of Sequoyah 219 Joe Stout at Strawberry Plains 229 Last Red Clay Council, 1837 257 The Cherokee Nation 263 A Typical Cherokee Farmstead 265 Cherokee Princesses and Petticoat Government 268 Lewis Ross Property 276 June 17,1838, Petition by Cherokee Leaders 278 A Minister Describes the Internment 280 Jeremiah Evarts’s Description of Brainerd Mission, 1818 286 On the Shortness of Human Life 298 Slavery and the Cherokees 312 Reviving Old-Style Stamped Cherokee Pottery 318 A Connection to Place 331