KITUWAH – CHEROKEE MOTHER TOWN

BRYSON CITY, NC - Between Bryson City and Cherokee lays a large flat track of land bordered by highways US19 and US74 and dissected by the Tuckaseigee River and a single set of railroad tracks. In the midst of this area is a large circular mound, rising slightly above the surrounding ground.

The mound, according to archeologists from the University of Tennessee, is the site of the first village of the Cherokee. It measures 170 feet in diameter and rises only five feet above the surrounding ground. In the mid-1990s, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians purchased the 309-acre tract of farmland in an effort to preserve an important part of their history.

The legend of Kituwah has survived for generations of the Cherokee regardless of where they live today. There are reports of distant Cherokees traveling to western North Carolina specifically to visit and show respect to this sacred site. Artifacts retrieved from almost one thousand small core samples verify the site was definitely inhabited several hundred years ago, almost certainly by the Cherokee as they moved into the region of the Great Smoky Mountains. At one time it was the center of the earliest and one of the largest Cherokee settlements, possibly dating back 10,000 years. Over the past two hundred years the acreage has been used for farming and raising cattle. A small airstrip with open hangers was also built only feet from the mound. Annual plowing took its toll on the entire site but archeologists found in their initial investigations fifteen burials and estimate there could be over one thousand graves.

Using a gradiometer, researchers found many hearths with one at the center of the mound. Images also revealed rings that indicated the location of the ceremonial hut which was rebuilt every twenty years. Fire, like water, is sacred to the Cherokee and within the hearth the fire burned perpetually. Historically, Cherokee people came from hundreds of miles each year to get fire from the hearth and bring it back to their communities. Often, they brought ashes and dirt from their own villages and added it to the Kituwah mound.

Easily seen from US19 near Bryson City, Kituwah remains as a silent reminder of one of the most important archeology finds of the first inhabitants of the Great Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina – the Cherokee. Vacation information about western North Carolina and the Great Smoky Mountains is available online: www.greatsmokies.com or calling toll-free 800-867-9246.