Great Smoky Mountains Natl. Park — A mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains could see its original name brought back as Cherokee tribal leadership supports a bid for the change.
The Tribal Council of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee (ECBI) recently passed a resolution supporting the bid to revive the name of the North Carolina mountain currently known as Clingman's Dome, WCNC Charlotte's news partner WBIR-TV in Knoxville, Tenn. reports. The mountain was known to the Cherokee as "Kuwahi", which translates to "mulberry place" in English, and was visited by medicine people to seek guidance about tribal matters from the Creator.
However, the summit was currently named after North Carolina Sen. Thomas Lanier Clingman, who was a general in the Confederate army. WBIR previously reported Clingman, who is buried in Asheville, had no significant ties to the tribe and argued for maintaining slavery in the days leading up to the Civil War. He was granted amnesty after the war.
WBIR also noted Arnold Guyot, the geographer who renamed the mountain, advocated for a racist theory in a manuscript he authored.
The restoration of the mountain's original name could happen with support from Deb Haaland, the current secretary of the US Department of the Interior. Secretary Haaland is a Native American herself and has been open to discussing name changes with different tribes. Last month, the National Park Service announced the renaming of one mountain's name in Yellowstone National Park to First Peoples Mountain. Sec. Haaland has also established the Derogatory Geographic Names Task Force to examine more than 660 geographic features.
WCNC Charlotte spoke with Lavita Hill on Thursday about the push to bring back the original Cherokee name. In addition to being an enrolled member of the tribe, she's also the administrator of the ECBI's minors trust fund. Hill said a trip to the mountain sparked a deeper dive into its history.
"There is a little sign there from storyteller Kathy Littlejohn," she said, "so that was sort of a starting part."
After diving into books and online research, she learned more about Kuwahi's role as a refuge for a Cherokee man named Tsali and his family as they evaded being forced onto the Trail of Tears in 1838. The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources shared in 2016 that after months in hiding during the spring of 1838, Tsali was captured and surrendered. Hill said in exchange for his execution, the other Cherokee people with him would be allowed to stay in the mountains.
When discussing Clingman, Hill noted the former Confederate general had no roots in the mountains, and a lack of lineage meant there could be no competing claims to the Kuwahi's name.
"He didn't live here. He had no family," Hill said. "He actually never married and didn't have any kids. So there no one really to stand up and say 'this is terrible for you to take back, to take the honor away from my family member', because that doesn't exist."
As Kuwahi was a common destination for the Cherokee medicine men, Hill also shared that the translation to "mulberry place" was quite literal; since mulberries grew on the mountain and was used in traditional medicine, the mountain thus earned that name.
With Secretary Haaland now in office, Hill believes more places across the country could see their original Native American names restored. Her advice to citizens in other tribes: get together and start talking.
"Form a committee, start a group, and do it," she said. "Anyone that has a desire to do this, just do it."
The Eastern Band's tribal leadership also provided this statement from principal Chief Richard G. Sneed about Hill's efforts with Mary Crowe, who also led the charge:
“It seems self-evident that generations of Cherokee connections to this mountain area is much more reflective of its true history, than that of a someone who passed through once. We applaud Lavita Hill and Mary Crowe for taking the lead on this and offer her our full support.”