Kuwohi (, also known as Clingmans Dome, its former official name) is a mountain in the

Great Smoky Mountains The Great Smoky Mountains (, ''Equa Dutsusdu Dodalv'') are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains and form part of the Blue Ridg ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

and

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

in the

Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...

. At an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

of , it is the highest mountain in the

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in the southeastern United States, southeast, with parts in North Carolina and Tennessee. The park straddles the ridgeline o ...

, the highest point in the state of Tennessee, and the highest point along the

Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail, also called the A.T., is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tra ...

. It is also the third highest point in eastern mainland North America, after

Mount Mitchell Mount Mitchell (''Attakulla'' in Cherokee) is the highest peak of the Appalachian Mountains and the highest peak in mainland North America east of the Mississippi River. It is located near Burnsville in Yancey County, North Carolina in the B ...

() and Mount Craig ().

Description

Kuwohi has two subpeaks: Mount Buckley to the west and Mount Love to the east. The headwaters of several substantial streams are located on the slopes of Kuwohi, including Little River on the north slope, and Forney Creek and Noland Creek, both of which are tributaries of the Tuckasegee River, on the south slope. The mountain is located entirely within the watershed of the

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...

.National Park Service (2013
''Clingmans Dome''
National Park Service, U.S. Department of Interior. Retrieved July 28, 2013. Kuwohi is protected as part of the

. A paved road connects it to U.S. Highway 441 at

Newfound Gap Newfound Gap (el. ) is a mountain pass located near the center of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park of the southern Appalachian Mountains in the United States. Situated along the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, the state line crosses ...

away. A tall concrete observation tower at the summit, built in 1959 and listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

, offers a panoramic view of the mountains. An air quality monitoring station, operated by the Environmental Protection Agency, is the second highest in eastern North America. The Southern Appalachian spruce–fir forest which covers Kuwohi occurs only at the highest elevations in the

and has more in common with forests at northern latitudes than with the forests in the adjacent valleys. Kuwohi stands prominently above the surrounding terrain, rising nearly from base to summit. The forest on and around Kuwohi has experienced a large die-off of Fraser fir caused by non-native insect

balsam woolly adelgid The balsam woolly adelgid (''Adelges piceae'') is small wingless insect that infests and kills firs. In their native Europe they are a minor parasite on silver fir and Sicilian fir, but they have become a threat especially to balsam fir and ...

Observation tower

Built in 1959, the observation tower features a circular observation platform accessed by a spiral ramp. The ramp is in length, and rises at a 12 percent grade, in sync with the Clingmans Dome Trail. The platform, in diameter, allows spectators a 360-degree panorama of the surrounding terrain. Cantilevered signs point out the various peaks, ridges, cities, and other features visible in the distance. Depending on the haze, visibility ranges from on hazy days to on very clear days. The tower was one of nine observation towers constructed as part of the Mission 66 program (1955–1966), an effort by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

to upgrade its facilities to accommodate an influx of visitors to national parks during the post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

era. Designed by Hubert Bebb of the Gatlinburg-based architecture firm Bebb and Olson, the tower's modern design, especially the use of concrete as the primary building material, marked a departure from previous park structures, which favored more rustic elements. Though some criticized the Clingmans Dome tower as too "urban," two other park service observation towers—the nearby Look Rock tower along Foothills Parkway and the Shark Valley tower at

Everglades National Park Everglades National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States that protects the southern twenty percent of the original Everglades in Florida. The park is the largest tropical wilderness in the Un ...

—were built using similar designs. Bebb's original design consisted of a massive stone tower topped by a circular platform and fire observation cab, accessed by a concrete ramp. Fred Arnold, head of the park service's Forest and Wildlife Protection branch, rejected the inclusion of the fire observation cab, arguing that while Kuwohi was the highest point in the park, it was not particularly useful for fire detection purposes. Park service director Conrad Wirth objected to the use of a ramp, favoring instead a spiral staircase. After John B. Cabot, head of the park service's Eastern Office of Design and Construction, convinced him of the ramp's usefulness, Wirth decided the stone tower would not be necessary, stating a single central support column would suffice. The tower was built by the Waynesville, North Carolina construction firm of W.C. Norris at a cost of $57,000 (). Ground was broken in December 1958. After several weather delays and a great deal of controversy over the aesthetics of the design, the tower was completed on October 23, 1959.

Access

Kuwohi is the most accessible mountain top in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Clingmans Dome Road, which is open annually from April 1 through November 30, begins just past Newfound Gap and leads up the mountain to the Forney Ridge Parking Area, below the summit. A paved trail leads from the parking lot to the observation tower. The short, steep trail provides a small visitor information center and park store staffed by the Great Smoky Mountains Association. The trail offers a glimpse of the often hostile environment of highland Appalachia, passing through the spruce-fir forest and its accompanying blowdowns and dead Fraser Firs. The

(A.T.) crosses Kuwohi, passing immediately north of the observation tower. A leg of the trail connects the mountain with Newfound Gap and provides the only access to the mountain in winter months. The nearest A.T. backcountry shelters are the Double Spring Gap Shelter, which is to the west near the Goshen Prong junction, and the Mount Collins shelter, which is to the east near the A.T.'s junction with the Sugarland Mountain Trail. Kuwohi is the upper terminus for several additional hiking trails, including the Forney Ridge Trail (to Andrews Bald) and the Forney Creek Trail (to the Benton MacKaye Trail on the shores of

Fontana Lake Fontana Lake is a reservoir impounded by Fontana Dam on the Little Tennessee River, and is located in Graham and Swain counties in North Carolina. The lake forms part of the southern border of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the nort ...

). The western terminus of the

Mountains-to-Sea Trail The Mountains-to-Sea State Trail (MST) is a long-distance trail in the US for hiking and backpacking, that traverses North Carolina from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Outer Banks. Its western endpoint is at Kuwohi, where it connects to the Ap ...

, which connects the Smokies to the

Outer Banks The Outer Banks (frequently abbreviated OBX) are a string of barrier islands and spits off the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, on the east coast of the United States. They line most of the North Carolina coastline, separatin ...

of North Carolina, is located atop Kuwohi. It follows the Appalachian Trail for to the east, where it then begins to descend toward the

Blue Ridge Parkway The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and National Scenic Byway, All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. The parkway, which is the longest linear park in the U.S., runs for through 29 counties in Virginia and ...

, via the Fork Ridge Trail.

History

The

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

name for the mountain is or (, translating to '

mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of 19 species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 subordinat ...

place'. According to a Cherokee myth recorded by ethnologist

James Mooney James Mooney (February 10, 1861 – December 22, 1921) was an American ethnographer who lived for several years among the Cherokee. Known as "The Indian Man", he conducted major studies of Southeastern Indians, as well as of tribes on the Great ...

in the late 19th century, the mountain was the home of the White Bear, the great chief of all bears, and the location of one of the bears' council houses. The enchanted lake of ''Ataga'hi'' ("Gall Place"), the waters of which could cure wounded bears, was believed by the Cherokee to be located somewhere between Kuwohi and the headwaters of the Oconaluftee River to the east. In 1789, an act passed by the North Carolina legislature ceded what is now Tennessee to the federal government. This act fixed a portion of the boundary between the two along the crest of the "Great Iron or Smoky Mountains," which would have included the mountain later known as Clingmans Dome. The mountain was dubbed "Smoky Dome" by American settlers moving in from other areas. In 1859, the mountain was renamed to "Clingmans Dome" by geographer Arnold Guyot for compatriot Thomas L. Clingman, who extensively explored, measured, and promoted the area in the 1850s, and who would go on to become a Confederate general of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. Guyot named the mountain for Clingman because of an argument between Clingman and a professor at the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

, Elisha Mitchell, over which mountain was actually the highest in the region. Mitchell contended that a peak by the name of Black Dome (now known as

) was the highest, while Clingman asserted that Smoky Dome was the true highest peak. Guyot determined that Black Dome was higher than Smoky Dome. In the early morning hours of June 12, 1946, a

Boeing B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a retired American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the Bo ...

crashed near the summit of Kuwohi, killing all twelve aboard. In June 2022, Lavita Hill and Mary "Missy" Crowe, both members of the

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), (Cherokee language, Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᏱ ᏕᏣᏓᏂᎸᎩ, ''Tsalagiyi Detsadanilvgi'') is a List of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States, federally recognized Indian Tribe, ...

, drafted legislation for the Tribe to support changing the name of Clingmans Dome to Kuwahi ('mulberry place')—the original name given to the area by Cherokees. The resolution describes the area, "Kuwahi or 'mulberry place', is the highest point in our area and has significance to us as Cherokees as it was visited by medicine people who prayed and sought guidance from the Creator regarding important matters facing our people, and then returned to our towns to give guidance and advice." The Tribal Council of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians passed the legislation, submitted by Hill and Crowe, during its regular session on July 14, 2022, thus lending the Tribe's support for the name change effort. The change was presented as an opportunity "to talk about the language" and remind people that "this was Cherokee homeland." The official process started with the filing of an application for a name change through the

United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a Federal government of the United States, federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geogr ...

(BGN). On August 2, 2022, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to support the name change, after consultation with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The council of the tribe voted in early 2024 to authorize the submission of an application to BGN. The

"strongly supported" this name change. It was ultimately approved, with the official press release of the name change to Kuwohi, which was effective immediately, being released on September 18, 2024.

Geology

Kuwohi is part of a

geological formation A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics (lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock expo ...

known as the Copperhill Formation. It consists predominately of massive, coarse-grained metagreywacke and metaconglomerate. The lower northern flanks of Kuwohi are underlain by thick layers of sulfidic,

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

garnet Garnets () are a group of silicate minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. Garnet minerals, while sharing similar physical and crystallographic properties, exhibit a wide range of chemical compositions, de ...

muscovite Muscovite (also known as common mica, isinglass, or potash mica) is a hydrated phyllosilicate mineral of aluminium and potassium with formula KAl2(Al Si3 O10)( F,O H)2, or ( KF)2( Al2O3)3( SiO2)6( H2O). It has a highly perfect basal cleavage y ...

phyllite Phyllite ( ) is a type of foliation (geology), foliated metamorphic rock formed from slate that is further metamorphosed so that very fine grained white mica achieves a preferred orientation.Stephen Marshak ''Essentials of Geology'', 3rd ed. I ...

and

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock generally derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock, like shale. It shows pronounced ''schistosity'' (named for the rock). This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a l ...

, which occur within the metagraywackes and metaconglomerates. Adjacent to and south of its summit, thin, southward-dipping, and discontinuous beds of

iferous (locally graphitic and sulfidic) metasiltstone occur within the Copperhill Formation.Southworth, S, A Schultz, JN Aleinikoff, and AJ Merschat (2012
''Geologic map of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park region, Tennessee and North Carolina.''
Scientific Investigations Map no. 2997. United States Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia, one sheet, scale 1:100,000, and 54-p. pamphlet. The Copperhill Formation is part of the greater Ocoee Supergroup, a body of

clastic Clastic rocks are composed of fragments, or clasts, of pre-existing minerals and rock. A clast is a fragment of geological detritus,Essentials of Geology, 3rd Ed, Stephen Marshak, p. G-3 chunks, and smaller grains of rock broken off other rocks by ...

metasedimentary rocks formed 560 million years ago. They unconformably lie upon

Precambrian The Precambrian ( ; or pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pC, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of t ...

granitic A granitoid is a broad term referring to a diverse group of coarse-grained igneous rocks that are widely distributed across the globe, covering a significant portion of the Earth's exposed surface and constituting a large part of the continental ...

and

gneiss Gneiss (pronounced ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. This rock is formed under p ...

ic rocks. The sediments that originally comprised the Ocoee Supergroup accumulated in a string of narrow, deep-water basins that stretched along the entire southern-central Appalachian margin from Tennessee, North Carolina, to Georgia. These basins were

rift In geology, a rift is a linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart and is an example of extensional tectonics. Typical rift features are a central linear downfaulted depression, called a graben, or more commonly a half-graben ...

basins formed by the rifting of

Rodinia Rodinia (from the Russian родина, ''rodina'', meaning "motherland, birthplace") was a Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic supercontinent that assembled 1.26–0.90 billion years ago (Ga) and broke up 750–633 million years ago (Ma). wer ...

.Hatcher, RD Jr. (2005) ''Southern and Central Appalachians, Regional Geology of North America.'' in RC Selley, LRM Cocks and IR Plimer, eds., pp. 72-81, Encyclopedia of Geology. Elsevier Publishers, London, Hatcher, RD, Jr., WA Thomas, and GW, Viele, (1989) ''The Appalachian–Ouachita orogen in the United States.'' The Geology of North America, vol. F–2. Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colorado. The initial

metamorphism Metamorphism is the transformation of existing Rock (geology), rock (the protolith) to rock with a different mineral composition or Texture (geology), texture. Metamorphism takes place at temperatures in excess of , and often also at elevated ...

of the Ocoee Supergroup occurred about 400 million years ago as the result of

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon (geology), Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years f ...

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 23.5 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the third and shortest period of t ...

tectonism Tectonics ( via Latin ) are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons. These processes ...

during the

Taconic orogeny The Taconic orogeny was a mountain building period that ended 440 million years ago (Ma) and affected most of modern-day New England. A great mountain chain formed from eastern Canada down through what is now the Piedmont of the east coast of the ...

. Later,

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

- Mississippian metamorphism of these strata occurred during the

Acadian orogeny The Acadian orogeny is a long-lasting mountain building event which began in the Middle Devonian, reaching a climax in the Late Devonian. It was active for approximately 50 million years, beginning roughly around 375 million years ago (Ma), wi ...

and additional Pennsylvanian to

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...

alteration by retrograde metamorphism and deformation occurred during the Alleghanian orogeny. During the latest part of this orogeny, this segment of the Appalachian Mountains was formed by thrust faulting and folding that uplifted these

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum (: strata) is a layer of Rock (geology), rock or sediment characterized by certain Lithology, lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by v ...

as a series of complexly deformed thrust sheets. During the

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian r ...

and

Cenozoic The Cenozoic Era ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterized by the dominance of mammals, insects, birds and angiosperms (flowering plants). It is the latest of three g ...

, the gradual uplift and erosion of this part of the Appalachian Mountains has continued. Although a dense forest understory covers most of the mountain, outcroppings of the Copperhill Formation can be found on Kuwohi at the Forney Ridge Parking Lot at the end of Clingmans Dome Road. This outcrop exposes massive metaconglomerate of the Copperhill Formation. At this outcrop, it consists of massive thick beds of micaceous

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock that was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tecton ...

. It contains coarse

pebble A pebble is a clastic rocks, clast of rock (geology), rock with a grain size, particle size of based on the Particle size (grain size), Udden-Wentworth scale of sedimentology. Pebbles are generally considered larger than Granule (geology), gra ...

s of quartz and

feldspar Feldspar ( ; sometimes spelled felspar) is a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagiocl ...

, flat pebbles of fine-grained black graywacke, and egg-shaped

concretion A concretion is a hard and compact mass formed by the precipitation of mineral cement within the spaces between particles, and is found in sedimentary rock or soil. Concretions are often ovoid or spherical in shape, although irregular shapes a ...

s up to in diameter. These cobble-sized concretions are readily weathered to leave rust-stained depressions or cavities in the metaconglomerate.Stose, GW, and AJ Stose (1949) ''Ocoee Series of the Southern Appalachians.'' Geological Society of America Bulletin. 60(2):267-320. Soils of Kuwohi are mostly moderately deep to shallow, well drained dark brown loam or sandy loam of strong to extreme acidity; Breakneck and Pullback series are most common.

Climate

The climate of the summit of Kuwohi is humid continental (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Dfb''). The surrounding areas have an oceanic (Köppen ''Cfb'') climate, as does most of the Blue Ridge Mountains. As with much of the southern Blue Ridge, the area qualifies as part of the

Appalachian Temperate Rainforest The Appalachian temperate rainforest or Appalachian cloud forest is located in the southern Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States and is among the most biodiverse temperate regions in the world. Centered primarily around Southern Ap ...

Gallery

Image:Abies fraseri0.jpg, Kuwohi, with groves of dead trees Image:Walkway to Clingmans Dome, TN IMG 4941.JPG, Base of the helical walkway ramp to the top of the observation tower Image:A view of the "smoky" mountains from Clingmans Dome IMG 4944.JPG, Mountains north of the observation tower obscured by low clouds.

References

External links

*Thornberry-Ehrlich, T (2008
''Great Smoky Mountains National Park Geologic Resource Evaluation Report. Natural Resource Report NPS/NRPC/GRD/NRR—2008/048.''
National Park Service, Denver, Colorado. Retrieved July 28, 2013.
'My Smoky Mountain Guide: Clingman's Dome'
* {{Authority control Cherokee culture Great Smoky Mountains National Park Mountains of North Carolina Mountains of Tennessee Mountains on the Appalachian Trail Mountains of Great Smoky Mountains National Park Southern Sixers Highest points of United States national parks Highest points of U.S. states Natural history of the Great Smoky Mountains Protected areas of Sevier County, Tennessee Protected areas of Swain County, North Carolina Religious places of the Indigenous peoples of North America Sacred mountains of the United States Mountains of Swain County, North Carolina Mountains of Sevier County, Tennessee Two-thousanders of the United States Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Buildings and structures in Swain County, North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Swain County, North Carolina