About Cherokee Heritage
Once the Cherokee commanded much of the southern Appalachians: territory that became part of West Virginia, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama. Today the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians owns a remnant of those ancestral lands. But we still recognize the old Cherokee homeland.
Its physical features are still here—the rivers and ridges, the rich plant and animal life, and the beautiful Appalachian vistas. On the Cherokee Heritage Trails visitors and residents alike can explore places that were part of the original Cherokee territory: ancient sites identified by archaeologists, sites of historical events, and place of myth and legend. Some of these sites clearly interpret Cherokee history; others make more demands on the imagination.
And, the Cherokee people are still here. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, a federally recognized tribe with more than 12,000 members, owns about 57,000 acres of tribal land in Western North Carolina. While they live in the modern world, many of their members continue to practice the folk arts, singing and storytelling that define authentic Cherokee heritage. They balance old and new, adapting to change while preserving the essence of what makes them Cherokee: respect for each other and for the earth; caring for the elders and for youth; treating each day as a gift; preserving harmony through humor and through prayers; speaking the language, singing the songs, dancing to honor the Creator.
The original Cherokee homeland has been altered over the past 200 years, with the addition of roads, towns and new species of plants and animals, the extinction of the chestnut tree, the elk, the Carolina parakeet, the buffalo, and others. But the shape of the hills, the flow of the rivers, and in some remote places, the landscape, remain much as Cherokees experienced them for thousands of years. We still have these features of the landscape, and we still have the Cherokee understanding of our relationship with this land preserved in stories, dances, medicine formulae, ceremonies and customs.
Every site presented here contributes to an understanding of Cherokee history and culture and has been chosen by Cherokee people to represent their heritage to the public. These places can be safely visited without endangering the site or violating any Cherokee religious traditions. We invite you to visit with an open mind and to let the land, the Cherokee voices, and the people themselves give you a glimpse of Cherokee ways of seeing the world. Don't be surprised if the landscape changes before you—from highways and cities to watersheds and ancient villages, from a modern world to the home of giants and little people.