HISTORICAL CHEROKEE

excerpts from HISTORICAL CHEROKEE, NORTH CAROLINA, Visitors Guide & Directory

Long before Columbus discovered the "New World" or Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto first set foot in the Great Smoky Mountains (1540), 25,000 Cherokee ruled over 135,000 square miles covering parts of what are now eight states.

Their vast territorial holdings have long since disappeared, but today, an agressive initiative to revitalize the Cherokee language, culture and heritage is being kept alive through the efforts of Tribal Government.

Unique among the many tribes inhabiting North America, the Cherokee have a written language created by Sequoyah in the 1820s.

By 1827, a Cherokee newspaper, "The Phoenix" was being circulated throughout the territory.

Not long ago, Cherokee students were not permitted to speak their native language in schools, but today, not only is it a required subject, but it's not uncommon for young and old to converse in Cherokee.  The language, almost lost just a generation ago, is now a part of mainstream Cherokee society again.

Unlike the Plains Indians depicted in Western movies, the Cherokee lived in log cabins, wore turbans and adopted European clothes.

Of all the injustices done to Native Americans, none equals the cruelty and betrayal culminating in the tragic "Trail of Tears", when the Cherokee Nation was forcefully driven out of the mountains and marched 1,200 miles to Oklahoma.

Those who survived the journey to Oklahoma are known as the Cherokee Nation.  Descendants of those who hid in the Great Smoky Mountains to avoid removal are known as the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians.

Today, there are nearly 12,000 members of the Eastern Band and many live in the Yellowhill, Birdtown, Painttown, Snowbird, Big cove and Wolftown communities on the Qualla Boundary - the Cherokee Indian Reservation.

Many books have been written about the history and culture of the Cherokee, but the best way to find out more is to visit all the cultural attractions on the Reservation.

I lived on the Reservation from 2004 until 2007.  I hope to move back there this summer.  Wish me luck!