Progress is being made on the restroom facility at the new Cherokee Cultural Grounds as seen in this photo taken on the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 23. (SCOTT MCKIE B.P./One Feather photo)
By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
One Feather Asst. Editor
CHEROKEE, N.C. – Leaders of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) broke ground on the new Cherokee Cultural Grounds in Cherokee, N.C. eight months ago, and work at the site is progressing nicely. The project is being built on the site of the old Cherokee Indian Fairgrounds and will include a terraced lawn amphitheater, a retractable stage, eight pavilions, picnic areas, food truck access, walking paths, and a large greenspace area.
Rebecca Bowe, EBCI Project Management manger, told the One Feather, “The final water tie in will be made this week. Sanitary sewer and stormwater improvements are ongoing, future coordination with Council House will be needed for the work to be completed in their parking lot. The grading activities have ramped up over the last couple weeks; we’re getting material from a closer site. The west restroom facility is coming along nicely, and we’ll be able to start the east restroom once we get the sanitary sewer and storm past the footprint of the foundations.”
At the groundbreaking ceremony in January, EBCI Secretary of Commerce Sean Ross said, “This space is about the community. Every bit of the strategy that we put together is to build something that is directly related to attend to the needs of our people.”
He spoke to the name of the project – Cherokee Cultural Grounds – noting, “The question came up months ago, ‘what type of ceremonies are you going to do there?’ So, we thought as a group, ceremonial is very, very confining. Not everything that we do as a people here is ceremonial. But, everything that we do as EBCI members is cultural. It’s inherent in everything that we do from day to day. So, we want to celebrate that.”
The project is slated to be completed by spring/summer 2027.
Rendering of the terraced amphitheater (Image courtesy of EBCI Project Management)
