TALK: Cowee Mound, the economic center for the Cherokee in the 18th century, will be the location for Mainspring Conservation Trust’s Cherokee History Talk led by Tom Belt. (Photo by Ralph Preston)
Celebrating 20 years of conservation, Mainspring Conservation Trust is hosting 20 events in 2017, including “A Walk Back in Time: Cherokee History in the Southern Blue Ridge”.
Tom Belt, a Western Carolina University faculty member and Cherokee Nation elder, will lead this once-in-a-lifetime walk to historic Cowee Mound in northern Macon County, on Thursday, June 8 from 11am – 1:30pm.
The council house of the Cherokee town of Cowee was located on this mound in the 18th century, when the town of Cowee served as the principal diplomatic and commercial center of the mountain Cherokee. Cowee is considered one of the most significant archaeological sites of the Mississippian period in North Carolina, where the presence of agriculture on the bottomlands dates back at least 3,000 years. Belt will talk about the cultural significance of the mound and Cherokee life prior to the Removal of 1838.
In 2007, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians purchased 70 acres along the Little Tennessee River that included the historic Cowee Mound and Village Site, thought to date from approximately 600 A.D. The transaction was made possible with assistance from Mainspring and the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund. A conservation easement on the property permanently protects its conservation values and prevents commercial and residential development.
Tickets are $5 per person. An optional lunch can be purchased for an additional $10 per person. To reserve your space, contact Sharon Burdette (828) 524-2711, ext 301.
– Mainspring Conservation Trust
