Great Tellico was a

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 at the site of present-day

Tellico Plains, Tennessee Tellico Plains is a town in Monroe County, Tennessee, Monroe County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 859 at the 2000 census and 880 at the 2010 census. Tellico Plains is home to several communities that include Coker Creek, Belltown, ...

, where the Tellico River emerges from the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain ...

. Great Tellico was one of the largest Cherokee towns in the region, and had a sister town nearby named Chatuga (Syllabary: ᏣᏚᎦ). Its name in

is more properly written Talikwa (Syllabary: ᏖᎵᏉ), but more commonly known as Diligwa. It is sometimes spelled Telliquo, Telliquah or, in

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

Tahlequah Tahlequah ( ; , ) is a city in Cherokee County, Oklahoma located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It is part of the Green Country region of Oklahoma and was established as a capital of the 19th-century Cherokee Nation in 1839, as par ...

. There were several Cherokee settlements named Tellico, the largest of which is distinguished from the others by calling it "Great". The meaning of the word "Talikwa" is thought to be lost by the Cherokees. However, in an article authored by reporter Tesina Jackson of the

Cherokee Phoenix The ''Cherokee Phoenix'' () is the first Native_American_newspapers, newspaper published by Native Americans in the United States and the first published in a Native American language. The first issue was published in English and Cherokee on Febr ...

the meaning of the word is stated as "the open place where the grass grows". The Warrior Path— a branch of the

Great Indian Warpath The Great Indian Warpath (GIW)—also known as the Great Indian War and Trading Path, or the Seneca Trail—was part of the network of trails in eastern North America developed and used by Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans w ...

— passed through Great Tellico, linking it to Chota in the north and Great Hiwassee in the south, via

Conasauga Creek Conasauga Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 27, 2011 tributary stream of the Hiwassee River, located in southeast Tennessee, United States. It is not t ...

. In addition, the Wachesa Trail (aka. " The Trading Path", later called the ''Unicoi Turnpike''), ran from Great Tellico southeast over the

Unicoi Range The Unicoi Mountains are a mountain range rising along the border between Tennessee and North Carolina in the southeastern United States. They are part of the Blue Ridge Mountain Province of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The Unicois are ...

of the Appalachian Mountains, linking the

Overhill Cherokee The Overhill Cherokee were a group of the Cherokee people located in their historic settlements in what is now the U.S. state of Tennessee in the Southeastern United States, on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains. This name was used b ...

to the Middle and Lower Cherokee towns in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The Trading Path became the main route of trade between the British and the Cherokee during the 18th century (Duncan 2003:245). In the early 18th century, Great Tellico was the de facto capital of the Overhill Cherokee. Several prominent Cherokee leaders came from the town, such as Moytoy of Tellico. After his death in 1741, Great Tellico began to fade. By the 1750s, Chota was largely recognized as the principal town of the Overhill Cherokee.

References

* Mooney, James ''Myths of the Cherokee'' (1900, repr. 1995) *Duncan, Barbara R. and Riggs, Brett H. ''Cherokee Heritage Trails Guidebook''. University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill (2003).

External links

The Unicoi Turnpike
historical marker {{authority control Cherokee towns in Tennessee Native American history of Tennessee Former Native American populated places in the United States Former populated places in Tennessee