Too-Cowee (sometimes Cowee) (also Stecoah), was an important historic

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 ...

town located near the

Little Tennessee River The Little Tennessee River (known locally as the Little T) is a tributary of the Tennessee River that flows through the Blue Ridge Mountains from Georgia, into North Carolina, and then into Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. It dra ...

north of present-day

Franklin, North Carolina Franklin is a town in and the county seat of Macon County, North Carolina, United States. It is situated within the Nantahala National Forest. The population was reported to be 4,175 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, an increase from ...

. It also had a prehistoric

platform mound A platform mound is any earthwork or mound intended to support a structure or activity. It typically refers to a flat-topped mound, whose sides may be pyramidal. In Eastern North America The indigenous peoples of North America built substru ...

and earlier village built by ancestral peoples. As their expression of public architecture, the Cherokee built a

townhouse A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of Terraced house, terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type o ...

on top of the mound. It was the place for their community gatherings in their highly decentralized society. The name translates to "pig fat" in English. British traders and colonists referred to Cowee as one of the Cherokee Middle Towns along this river; they defined geographic groupings based in relation to their coastal settlements, such as

Charlestown, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

. The "Cowee Mound and Village Site", now within present-day

Macon County, North Carolina Macon County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 37,014. Its county seat is Franklin. The Nantahala River runs through Macon County, flowing into the Little Tennessee River in ...

, has been listed since 1973 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 ...

as an archeological site. Since 2006 it has been owned by the federally recognized

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, ...

, based in North Carolina, which shares some conservation easements with the state.

Archeological site

Cowee was developed in the floodplain of the river, as were most prehistoric and historic indigenous towns. It has been described as one of the best-preserved

South Appalachian Mississippian culture The Mississippian culture was a collection of Native American societies that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 to 1600 CE, varying regionally. It was known for building la ...

sites in western

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 ...

and has an earthwork

. The people of the

flourished in this area from about 1000 CE to the 14th or 15th century. It developed later in this region than in the main cultural centers in the Midwest. In this period, the larger villages in South Appalachia each built a single platform mound. These villages each served as the political center for several nearby smaller communities. In the largest centers, by contrast, such as

Cahokia Cahokia Mounds ( 11 MS 2) is the site of a Native American city (which existed 1050–1350 CE) directly across the Mississippi River from present-day St. Louis. The state archaeology park lies in south-western Illinois between East St. L ...

and

Etowah Indian Mounds Etowah Indian Mounds ( 9BR1) are a archaeological site in Bartow County, Georgia, south of Cartersville. Built and occupied in three phases, from 1000–1550 CE, the prehistoric site is located on the north shore of the Etowah River. Etow ...

, the Mississippian culture people gathered in larger centers and built multiple mounds. These dense settlements expressed the more stratified levels of social and political hierarchy. The Too-Cowee mound and village site became an important center for the

, who occupied a large territory in southeastern Tennessee, western North and South Carolina, and northeastern Georgia. They are believed to have migrated from the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

area, where other Iroquoian-speaking peoples are based, and to have been in this homeland in the Southeast for more than 1,000 years. When the Cherokee occupied this area, they built a large townhouse or

council house A council house, corporation house or council flat is a form of British Public housing in the United Kingdom, public housing built by Local government in the United Kingdom, local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing ...

on top of the mound, which was their form of public architecture. It held the sacred flame of the people. When needed, the townhouse would be dismantled and burned, then replaced, and the mound repaired. It gradually became larger in circumference. Large enough to hold hundreds of people, the townhouse was a place for the community to gather. In the westernmost eleven counties of North Carolina, the Cherokee developed towns known by colonists in the eighteenth century as the Middle, Valley, and Out Towns, along the river valleys and floodplains between mountain ridges in this region. The major rivers were the French Broad, Pigeon, Tuckaseegee, Little Tennessee, and Hiwassee. In the late eighteenth century, the Cherokee expanded deeper to the south and west into Georgia and Alabama. The Cowee Mound and Village Site has been defined as the mound and about of rolling fields and hills, believed to contain evidence of the Cherokee village and earlier habitations. It was listed on the

in 1973 as an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

. In 2001 it was listed as a contributing site to the "Cowee-West's Mill Historic District."

History

British colonists attacked the village during the

Anglo-Cherokee War The Anglo-Cherokee War (1758–1761; in the Cherokee language: the ''"war with those in the red coats"'' or ''"War with the English"''), was also known from the Anglo-European perspective as the Cherokee War, the Cherokee Uprising, or the Cherok ...

, which accompanied the later years of the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

. During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, the Cherokee sided with the British, hoping to expel colonists from their territory. Cowee was attacked by colonial militia led by Colonel William Moore in November 1776. Most of the people had fled the village but, according to his account, the militia destroyed their houses, and looted their stored crops before attacking other towns. During and after the revolution, other Cherokee bands fought a series of actions in the Chickamauga territory of southeastern Tennessee to evict encroaching

European-American settlers During the Age of Discovery, a large scale colonization of the Americas, involving a number of European countries, took place primarily between the late 15th century and the early 19th century. The Norse explored and colonized areas of Europe a ...

.''Southern Indian Studies, vol. 2 - No. 2''
Wood, William; Wilburn, Hiram; Archeological Society of North Carolina and The Laboratory of Anthropology & Archeology tThe University of North Carolina; Chapel Hill; (October 1950); pdf download After the Cherokee were forced to cede this territory in 1819 by a treaty with the United States, the mound and village site were abandoned for a time.

Ownership transfer

In 1838-1839 most of the Cherokee were removed from the Southeast to

Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. The European-American Hall family acquired property including this site in the 1840s. The Halls held the land for 175 years, and refused to allow private archaeological access to the main

and former village area. In 2002 Hall descendants began negotiations that culminated in the 2007 transfer of the mound and village site to the

(EBCI). Certain conservation and preservation easements are held by the state. The EBCI have also worked to acquire other important Cherokee sites in their historic homeland, such as

Kituwa Kituwa (also spelled Kituwah, Keetoowah, Kittowa, Kitara and other similar variations) or ''giduhwa'' (Cherokee: ᎩᏚᏩ) is a Woodland period Native American settlement near the upper Tuckasegee River, and is claimed by the Cherokee people ...

, their mother town, which they acquired in 1996. With a non-profit partner, they acquired the Cowee Mound and Village Site in 2006. The EBCI are descended from Cherokee who remained in this area after removal, and they are the only federally recognized tribe in North Carolina. By 2020 the EBCI and partners also succeeded in gaining control of

Nikwasi Nikwasi () which translates to "Star Place". Nikwasi is the site of the Cherokee town which is first found in colonial records in the early 18th century, but is much older. The town covered about on the floodplain of the Little Tennessee River. ...

and Watauga mounds, the visible remnants of once-large historic Cherokee and ancestral towns at these sites along the upper Little Tennessee River. They formed the non-profit Nikwasi Initiative and worked with Mainspring Conservation Trust to achieve this. They are planning to highlight these three sites on the "Nikwasi Trail", a corridor to be highlighted along the Little Tennessee River. The tribe and local organizations are collaborating to develop this area for recreation, education, and heritage tourism related to these important sacred sites.

References

{{authority control South Appalachian Mississippian culture Cherokee towns in North Carolina Pre-historic cities in the United States

Archaeological sites in North Carolina This is a listing of sites of archaeological interest in the state of North Carolina, in the United States. {{Commons category, Archaeological sites in North Carolina North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southea ...

Former populated places in North Carolina Geography of Macon County, North Carolina Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Macon County, North Carolina Historic district contributing properties in North Carolina Populated places on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina

Archeological site

History

Ownership transfer

See also

References