Travel Guides
Cherokee Heritage Itinerary -- Stop 10 Nikwasi Mound
From Hayesville, proceed east on 64 to the town of Franklin, about 32 miles. Take a left (north) on 23/Georgia Road, into downtown Franklin. Once downtown, take a right onto East Main. The Nikwasi mound will be on your left, on Nikwasi Lane. Visitors can view the mound close-up, but please do not climb or walk on it.
In the summer of 1775, Philadelphia naturalist John Bartram passed through this area, and visited in the Cherokee communities between present-day Robbinsville and Franklin. He wrote of seeing, from the ridge of the Nantahalas, “…a view of many other villages and settlements on the sides of the mountains, at various distances and elevations; the silver rivulets gliding by them and snow white cataracts glimmering on the sides of the lofty hills; the bold promontories of the Jore (Nantahala) mountain stepping into the Tanase (Tennessee) river, whilst his foaming waters rushed between them. After viewing this very entertaining scene we began to descend the mountain on the other side. … Here had formerly been a very flourishing settlement, but the Indians deserted it in search of fresh planting land, which they soon found in a rich vale but a few miles distance over the ride of hills. Soon after entering on these charming, sequestered, prolific fields, we came to a fine little river, which crossing, and riding over fruitful strawberry beds and green lawns, on the sides of a circular ridge of hills in front of us, and going round the bases of this promontory, came to a fine meadow on an arm of the vale, through which meandered a brook, its humid vapours bedewing the fragrant strawberries which hung in heavy red clusters over the grassy verge…”
A thousand years before Franklin, the Macon County seat, existed, this site was the important Cherokee village of Nikwasi. The Nikwasi mound and the townhouse that was built atop it were the ceremonial heart of the village, holding a perpetually-burning flame. The Nunnehi, a race of spirits, lived underneath the mound, according to Cherokee tradition.
Cherokee folklore tells of an attack by the Creek Nation on Nikwasi. Just as the Cherokee were on the verge of defeat the mound opened up, and from underneath came a band of Nunnehi warriors, who routed the Creeks and saved the village. Folktales tell of a similar incident much later, when the Nunnehi again emerged from the mound to drive away a company of Union soldiers.
The mortal people of Nikwasi were resilient as well. The village and fields were burned by the British in 1761, and the townhouse on the top of the mound used as a field hospital. The Cherokee rebuilt Nikwasi after the British attack, but it was again destroyed in 1776, this time by American Revolutionary soldiers. Though white settlers seized ownership of the site in the early nineteenth century, and the Cherokee village became the town of Franklin, the Nikwasi mound remains a site of deep importance to the modern Cherokee people.
Franklin is the final stop on this itinerary, but your tour of Cherokee country doesn’t have to end here. 23 South will carry you into north Georgia, which is also rich with Cherokee history. 23 North will carry you to Sylva, a beautiful river town; from there you can take 74 West back to the Bryson City-Cherokee area, or east towards Asheville. In these mountains there are countless places of interest to the traveler who wishes to learn more about Cherokee culture. The Cherokee Heritage Trails Guidebook, by Barbara Duncan and Brett Riggs, and www.cherokeeheritagetrails.org are great companions to help you explore the region.