Indian Heritage in Cherokee, NC (North Carolina)

Member Name: HeavenlyTwin

Product:	North Carolina
Date:	06/08/02 (1235 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Plenty of fun things to do, both cultural and otherwise, Learn about the Cherokee history from the people themselves in a living history museum, See the history brought to life in the drama "Unto The Hills"

Disadvantages: Book hotel/motel rooms early, they are popular and sell out quickly ( we were out of luck at noon!), Take plenty of money - you'll find so many souvenirs that you'll want for yourself and others

With apologies to Longfellow:

"Nestled in the Smoky Mountains,
with a river running through it,
is the town of Cherokee,
where Tsali's people now are free.

Come go fishing in the river,
visit the village - Oconaluftee,
see the pageant in the theatre,
learn the history of the Cherokee".



Sometimes you just get this idea that you want to "get away from it all"- the everyday existence, the daily slog, dull routine. Maybe life is usually pretty good, but you still experience that urge to do something different just once in a while.

That's what happened to us this past week.

Saturday 3rd August was our 17th wedding anniversary, and just this once, we wanted to "do" something to celebrate. The other years have been filled with seeming endless money problems, raising children, work commitments when the day has fallen during the week. Finally, it had come on a Saturday, we had no familial commitments to worry about, and financially, we could afford to blow a little bit of money on ourselves. It felt good.

Living in Greenville, SC, we are close to many different places that make good day trips. We decided to go to Cherokee, NC, nestled high up in the Smoky Mountains. It was a choice we would not regret, and one that has created many wonderful memories.

The Cherokee Reservation is famous for Harrah's Casino, one of those places where people go to try their luck at winning more than they pay out trying! However the purpose of our trip was cultural; I wanted to find out about the Cherokee history and my husband was interested in the same thing.

We had planned on three places to see while we were there. The Museum of the Cherokee Indian, The Oconaluftee Indian Village (a living history museum) and the drama "Unto The Hills" which is a play telling the story of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee, done in the evenin
g in an open air theatre on the mountainside. The Eastern Band of the Cherokee are descendants of those who hid in the Smoky Mountains to avoid removal to Oklahoma in the tragic Trail of Tears. Those who survived the journey to Oklahoma are known as the Cherokee Nation.



Our first stop was the Oconaluftee Indian Village, which is a replica of a Cherokee village in the 18th century.

Everything is authentic and guides take you through, stopping at craftsmen and women, explaining the various crafts that were the mainstay of the Cherokee. For instance, beadmaking. Once the designs meant something, but the meanings have been lost in time and now the women make colourful belts and other trinkets, in the age old way, one bead at a time. Each bead is sewn separately so that if the item is snagged, it can be easily repaired.

Another craftsman chipped away at flint making arrowheads, explaining the different styles and uses.

We saw reproductions of Cherokee lodges - cabins of clay and grasses. Some visitors expected to see tipis, but those were a part of the Plains Indian culture, the Cherokee lived in "houses" and were farmers and hunters.

The Cherokee also appear to have believed in the equality of women, long before England and the US thought about it, much less accepted it. Although there were roles which were traditionally male and female, women took part in council meetings, and in fact clan connections ran through the female. It was a matriarchal society.

From 1827 they also published their own newspaper, which was written both in Cherokee ( the phonetic alphabet created by Sequoyah in 1820) and English.

The Cherokee tribe was made up of 7 clans, and seven is a number that figures highly in Cherokee traditions - for instance the Council House was 7 -sided. Marriage within one's own clan was not allowed, and on marriage, the husband moved into the clan of his wife and any ch
ildren were classed as being from the wife's clan.

As with all Indians, the Cherokee used plants and trees for medicinal purposes, and there is a Cherokee garden with trees and plants, annotated with plaques explaining the part of the plant/tree and its uses. As the guide explained sadly, the Cherokee had a cure for all the diseases that it was used to, but had no cure for smallpox - a disease that arrived with the white man and wiped out half the population.

The village itself is open from May 15th to October 25th and admission is $12 for adults, $5 for children (6-13 years) , but you can buy a "historical valu-ticket" for $16/ $8 respectively, which also covers admission to the Museum of the Cherokee Indian and saves $4 on adult admission and $3 on children.

They have a website at : www.oconalufteevillage.com.


At the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, there are artifacts and exhibits of the history of the Cherokee from the Paleo-Archaic periods to present day, woven together in a tapestry of special effects and told by a traditional storyteller.

As you travel through time, you "meet" some of the Cherokee heroes and learn their stories; learn what happened when the white man first came into contact with the Cherokee nation. You hear about the Trail of Tears, and see vivid portrayals of that time.

There are various displays of tools, ancient jewellery and gorgets, pottery and a miniature village encampment to wander around and peruse.

The gift shop has a marvellous selection of books, and other souvenirs. There is even a booklet about the medicinal herbs and plants sued by the Cherokee, which ties in with the garden that we had visited at the Oconaluftee Village.

The museum has a website at: www.cherokeemuseum.org

It is far more than "just "a museum though. It also offers an outreach programme providing demonstrations and lectures to schools withi
n a 100 miles radius, offers courses and workshops for teachers k-college, supports Archives of Cherokee History (more than 1400 published volumes plus collections of manuscripts, microfilm and photographs) as well as sponsoring the Artisan Series promoting Cherokee artists and art forms, ancient and modern.



Our day came to its finale at the outdoor presentation "Unto These Hills". This play telling the story of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee, is done in the evening, nightly from June to late August, in an open air theatre on the mountainside. Since it's first showing in July of 1950, over 5 million people have come to watch this and 2002 is its 52nd season.

It is a very powerful drama, telling the history of the Cherokee from the arrival of Hernando De Soto, the Spanish explorer, in 1540 until the Trail of Tears, when most of the Cherokee were forcibly removed from their homes and re-settled onto reservations in Oklahoma. Some of the actors are actually descendants of those who were driven out of the mountains and forced to walk the 1200 miles to their new home.

I was amazed by the professionalism of the production. Everything is very polished, the actors are superb, the scenery changed while your attention is focused on other occurrences in the story. The musical score is powerful and complements every aspect of the story, whether the joy of a Cherokee wedding or the heartbreaking sacrifice of Tsali, who returned from a safe hiding place to give his life and that of two of his sons, so that a handful of his people, those still hiding out in the mountains, might return and stay on the land of their ancestors.

You can get reserved seating, which costs $16 per person, all ages. Or there is general admission seating which is $14 for adults and $6 for children 6-13 years).

The website is at: www.untothesehills.com



We found the whole experience totally awe inspiring and very
fulfilling, as well as opening our eyes to the facts and the fiction of the Cherokee. Something that I found particular satisfaction in is that, whereas years ago Cherokee children were forcibly removed from their families and placed in boarding schools where the Cherokee language was banned, and they were forced to use only English, now there is a resurgence of the language in Cherokee society. The schools teach the language and also Cherokee history, and all Cherokee children are required to master both to graduate high school.



The Cherokee Museum, Oconaluftee Indian Village, and the "Unto These Hills" production are all on US 441N in Cherokee, NC, 28719.

This is definitely an experience that nobody should miss. The whole town is also a tourist haven and there are all the usual American places to eat, as well as craft shops, photography studios taking pictures that look like they were done 100 years ago, fishing in the river, and fun places for kids of all ages.

We had a wonderful day and will definitely be going back many more times.

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