On the Trail in Cherokee Hunting Ground

A faint blue haze hangs over the mountains, streams explode with jumping trout, wild azaleas follow rhododendron and dogwood. The air is piney, with a tang of wood smoke, clean and fresh.

Once it was the hunting ground of the Cherokees. Now only the remnants of the eastern segment of that territory lie within the Qualla Boundary Reservation.

Its center is the southern gateway of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Blue Ridge Parkway.

We came to this town to watch a friend film a travel video for the tribe. “They called themselves Yun-ya-wiya, the real people; they never wore feathered headdresses or lived in wigwams,” our friend said. “Once they owned most of the land in eight states.”

Inherently peaceful, they had cooperated with the white men and, after more than a century of broken treaties, lost it all.

In the exodus to Oklahoma Territory during the bitter winter of 1837-38, one out of four died from disease and exposure. It was the “Trail of Tears.”

Outdoor Drama

The story leading to what the U.S. government called “The Removal” is told in an outdoor drama that has been performed here every summer for 39 years. “Unto These Hills” is highlighted by an eagle dance and enhanced by a score composed by Jack Kilpatrick, a Cherokee.

It is a prime introduction to the Cherokee people. We saw it our first night and went early for the pre-performance program of mountain folk songs. Nature provided a bonus: distant thunder and lightning clearly visible from the theater.

The Museum of the Cherokee Indian contains the names of the Indian heroes already familiar. Here, too, the unexpected.

The museum is no musty collection of artifacts but a multimedia event that begins with geology and progresses through six theaters to the present.

Nearly everything is within walking distance. Close by and next to a nature trail and the Botanical Garden is Oconaluftee, an authentic reconstruction of a 1750s Indian village.

Early Cherokees were neither warriors nor nomads, but farmers living on their land or in villages. They introduced maize and tobacco, and their medicine men invented aspirin.

Inside Oconaluftee we peered into furnished log cabins and paused to rest in the seven-sided Council House.

Along the way, Cherokee artisans, wearing ancestral costumes, demonstrated crafts from basket making to mask carving.

A dugout canoe was being burned and axed from a log; women chatted over their beading while others baked bean bread the old-fashioned way. Bows, arrows, blowguns, fishhooks, needles, pottery and storytelling--all the necessities of Cherokee life were in process.

Afterward we stopped at the Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, the tribal cooperative where top Cherokee artists exhibit. It sells many items from tiny earrings ($2 and up) to enormous baskets ($600 and less), all handmade.

Income From Tourism

Income is largely derived from tourism. Fishing is from stocked streams supplied by a tribal fish hatchery. The ever-popular moccasins are made in a tribal-owned factory. Hunting is limited to the pursuit of bingo victories.

Schlocky billboards and garish storefront signs that have long defaced Main Street will soon come down, replaced by neat, business-like, name-only identifications. Curbing, landscaping and street lighting will be part of Cherokee’s new look.

Eventually only the roving “chiefs” will remain so tourists can take pictures with the colorful people.

Hiking, horseback riding, canoeing and fishing are available, as are conventional rafting and tubing.

Shopping, too, is available, at Saunooke’s Mill, a complex of stores, plus the Center of Cherokee Heritage, formerly a private collection of old and new Cherokee arts and crafts at the entrance to the park.

An old waterwheel and antique mill grind Tennessee corn, producing grits and corn flour, which are packaged for sale and mail order. They make excellent gifts, as does another local food--sourwood honey.

This year the anniversary of the Indians’ enforced evacuation will be marked with a tribute when the U.S. Department of the Interior confers national trail status on the marked route of the Trail of Tears.

Today the Cherokee Nation consists of the Western and Eastern Bands. At the time of the infamous march, some of the Cherokees evaded the soldiers and hid in the hills. They lost their homes and farms but held out for many years until a sort of amnesty was granted. The North Carolina Cherokee are descended primarily from this group.

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The best way to reach Cherokee is to fly to Knoxville, Tenn., or Asheville, N.C., then rent a car. Cherokee is at the junction of U.S. highways 441 and 19.

Accommodations in the area include the Great Smokies Inn (Best Western), $35 to $58 double, off U.S. 441, 2 1/2 miles north, Box 132, Cherokee, N.C. 18719, (704) 497-2020 or toll-free (800) 528-1234; Holiday Inn, $40-$62 double, senior discounts, three-quarters of a mile west on U.S. 19, Box 648, Cherokee, N.C. 28719, phone (704) 497-9181 or toll-free (800) 465-4329, and the Indian Hills Motel, $38-$48 double, 1 1/2 miles east on U.S. 19, Box 523, Cherokee, N.C. 28719, (794) 497-9171.

There are also plenty of small motels in and around Cherokee, plus well-equipped campgrounds, many on or near fishable streams.

Tee Pee restaurant, across from the museum on U.S. 441, is popular. Trout and country ham are specialties. Granny’s Kitchen, on U.S. 19 1 1/2 miles east of Cherokee, has excellent breakfast and dinner buffets.

Fish Camp restaurant in Saunooke’s Village, at the entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, is good for snacks, a light lunch or a simple dinner (mountain trout, slaw, hush puppies, for about $6).

Admission to the Museum of the Cherokee Indian is $3 for adults, $1.50 for ages 6 to 12. Oconaluftee Indian Village: adults $5.50, ages 6 to 12 $3.50. Admission is free for the Nature Trail and Botanical Garden. Tickets to “Unto These Hills” (through Aug. 31) cost $6.50 to $8.50.

Ceremonies marking the dedication of the Trail of Tears will take place Oct. 4-8, in conjunction with the annual Fall Festival.

For more information, contact the Cherokee Visitor Center, Main Street, Cherokee, N.C. 28719, phone (704) 497-9195.