Nikwasi () which translates to "Star Place". Nikwasi is the site of 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 ...

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. Franklin,

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 ...

, was later developed by European Americans around this site. Today, a

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 ...

, estimated to have been built about 1000 CE, is the only extant feature left of the Cherokee town. The mound site and a small area has been owned and preserved by Franklin since 1946. It was 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 ...

in 1980 as "Nequasee." The federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee, which is based at

Qualla Boundary The Qualla Boundary or The Qualla is territory held as a land trust by the United States government for the federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), who reside in Western North Carolina. The area is part of the large histori ...

, has been working to re-acquire its traditional lands and sacred mounds in this region. In 2019 the town of Franklin transferred the deed for Nikwasi mound to the Nikwasi Initiative, a non-profit set up by the EBCI, as part of this effort.

History

The town (also known spelled as Ꮔꭷꮟ ''Nucassee'') was founded sometime before the mid-1500s, as it appears on a 1566 map. It is first mentioned in 1718 in the records of the British colonies in America. The town was a spiritual, cultural, and ceremonial center for the local Cherokee people, who considered it one of the "''Mother Towns'' of their homeland." (Note: Kituwa, found on the Tuckaseegee River, is considered the first "Mother Town".) The Cherokee people kept the ''ever-burning sacred fire'' of Nikwasi located in the fire pit of their

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 ...

constructed on top of the mound. The fire had been kept burning since the beginning of their culture, and every townhouse had a fire pit for it. A census conducted in 1721 by English missionaries estimated the population of Nikwasi as 162 people: 53 men, 50 women, and 59 children.

Treaty of 1727

As was typical in the Cherokee heartland, the people built their townhouse or meeting hall on top of the central

as their expression of public architecture, as it enabled the community to gather. The people of Nikwasi likely met here with a colonial delegation who came from Charleston,

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

in 1727; Colonel John Herbert took part in a treaty council held in the town house on December 3, 1727. Following the Cherokee signing of the treaty with South Carolina, a self-appointed royal ambassador, Alexander Cuming, was hosted at the town from April 3 to 4, 1730. During the negotiations with the Cherokee, Cuming had met with ''Uku'' (or " First Beloved Man") Moytoy (known also as ''Ama-edohi''). Cuming "appointed" Moytoy as "Emperor" of the Cherokee and secured a dubious pledge of allegiance of all the Cherokee peoples to King George II from him. The treaty was generally honored until 1741.

Further dealings with colonials

During the summer of 1761, the Nikwasi townhouse was used as a field hospital by members of a punitive English expedition against the Cherokee and other native American allies of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

during 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 ...

. James Grant led this force, which razed most of the town in their expedition. The Cherokee rebuilt their town. By the time of 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 had become allies of the British, hoping they would support the expulsion of settlers from Cherokee territory. During the Rutherford Light Horse expedition, rebel forces leveled the town on September 10, 1776. Rutherford burned the town and its farmlands to the ground. After an austere, harsh winter, the town sued for peace with the colonists the following Spring. The Cherokee rebuilt again and continued life at Nikwasi. After the Revolutionary War, European-American migration west and settlement in Native American territories continued. In 1819 the federal government forced the Cherokee of this area to cede their lands and move into the

. At that time Nikwasi mound and an associated 690 acres was first acquired by European Americans. This Indian Removal effort gathered force in the 1830s after Congress passed legislation in 1830 to authorize it.

The mound

The platform mound (now better maintained than in the 1963 photo) is conspicuous to the many drivers who pass by daily on US 441 Business in downtown Franklin. The mound architecture has been well-preserved to the present, and the access ramp and flat summit continue to be easily differentiated. A 2009 GPR survey revealed that the base of the mound is covered by one to two meters of combined alluvial deposits and manmade fill. As a result of these findings, it is clear that prior to the flooding and fill events, the mound enjoyed greater

topographic prominence In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling ...

than currently, and was once a more impressive part of the

cultural landscape Cultural landscape is a term used in the fields of geography, ecology, and heritage studies, to describe a symbiosis of human activity and environment. As defined by the World Heritage Committee, it is the "cultural properties hatrepresent the c ...

than it is today. The mound appears to have been built by indigenous ancestors of the Cherokee in the South Appalachian Mississippian culture period, with construction estimated at the year 1000 CE. The mound was privately owned for more than a century by various European Americans, and in 1946 the town of Franklin raised money to buy and preserve it. Schoolchildren were among those who donated for this purpose. 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, ...

(EBCI) has negotiated to acquire more control through the "Nikwasi Initiative," a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

. They plan for the mound to be featured as part of the "Nikwasi-Cowee Corridor," an EBCI proposal to highlight Nikwasi mound and the nearby Cowee Mound and village site (a similar ancient platform mound located across the Little Tennessee River and north of Franklin).

Archaeological and geophysical investigations

The mound site takes its name from the historic Cherokee town which had covered about 100 acres there; it was documented in the English colonial records in the early 18th century. Based on the southeast orientation of the ramp and the results of a 2009

ground-penetrating radar Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a geophysical method that uses radar pulses to image the subsurface. It is a non-intrusive method of surveying the sub-surface to investigate underground utilities such as concrete, asphalt, metals, pipes, cables ...

survey, the summit of the mound is thought to have been the seat of the Cherokee communal

for the town. Here the Cherokee leaders hosted British and American delegations through the years. A single 5′ x 5′ test shaft dug by

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 ...

archaeologists in 1963 constitutes the entirety of formal excavation known to have been undertaken at Nikwasi. The mound's excellent state of preservation owes much to the fact that it was never opened by the Smithsonian during the 1880s, when its staff excavated some ancient mounds. In 1980, the mound was listed on the

(NRHP), in the transliterated spelling of "Nequasee."

Preservation efforts

In 2012, Franklin sprayed

herbicide Herbicides (, ), also commonly known as weed killers, are substances used to control undesired plants, also known as weeds.EPA. February 201Pesticides Industry. Sales and Usage 2006 and 2007: Market Estimates. Summary in press releasMain page f ...

on the mound to control the grass. The Eastern Band of the Cherokee regarded this as "desecration", and principal chief Michell Hicks asked for the site to be turned over to the Eastern Band, which the town refused to do. As noted above, the Eastern Band formed the Nikwasi Initiative, a non-profit designed to work on development and interpretation in the area related to historic Cherokee and ancient indigenous sites along the Little Tennessee River. In 2017 the Eastern Band bought a building next to the mound, later studying whether to adapt it for use as a museum. In May 2019, the town of Franklin transferred the mound to the non-profit Nikwasi Initiative. The Tribal Council of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee voted in July 2019 to provide $300,000 to the Nikwasi Initiative. The Mainspring Conservation Trust acquired Watauga Mound and part of its historic town site in 2020, for conservation. It is located north of Franklin along the Little Tennessee River. Mainspring is working with the EBCI and Nikwasi Initiative to preserve this property and have it be part of the Nikwasi-Cowee Corridor.

References

External links

"Nikwasi"
Macon County Historical Society
Cherokee Heritage Itinerary – Stop 10 Nikwasi Mound
, North Carolina Folklife Institute
Archaeological Survey, US 441-B, Franklin, Macon County, Tip No. U-621
The Digital Archeological Resource
"Nequasee – Franklin, NC, U.S. National Register of Historic Places"
Waymarking website {{authority control South Appalachian Mississippian culture Cherokee towns in North Carolina Pre-historic cities in the United States Archaeological sites in North Carolina 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