Nikwasi
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Nequasee
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| Location: | Franklin, North Carolina |
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| Area: | 18 acres (7.3 ha) |
| Governing body: | Local |
| NRHP Reference#: | 80004598[1] |
| Added to NRHP: | November 26, 1980 |
Nikwasi (also spelled Nequassee, Nucassee, Noucassih, etc.) was an important Cherokee town located on the Little Tennessee River at the site of present-day Franklin, North Carolina.
A large mound is still visible, marking the location of the townhouse. The Nikwasi Mound has remained intact. It has not been excavated, so its age is uncertain, but it is similar to other nearby mounds whose age has been determined to be at least 1,000 years (Duncan 2003:152-153). These were built by the Mississippian culture, about 1000 CE. Cherokee likely did not migrated to the area until the 1600s.
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[edit] History
Scholars believe the mound at Nikwasi was constructed about 1000 CE during the much earlier Mississippian culture. During the late Appalachian Mississippian period, a succeeding people known as Lamar culture became widespread in western North Carolina and associated areas, from about 1350 CE until the historic Cherokee peoples migrated into the area.[2]
After migrating to this area from around the Great Lakes, the Cherokee revered the mound as a spiritual center. They built a Council House, or Town House, used for councils, religious ceremonies, and general meetings, on top of the mound, with a sacred fire. Nikwasi was a "white", or peace, town.
They believed that the Nunne'hi, spirit people, lived under the mound. An old medicine man named Swimmer told the legend of the Spirit Defenders to James Mooney when he was studying the Cherokee for the Smithsonian in 1887 - 1890.
In 1730, the English colonist Alexander Cuming called for a council at the town of Nikwasi, which thousands of Cherokee attended. He arranged for seven Cherokee, including Moytoy of Tellico, to accompany him to England. In 1761 during the Seven Years War with France and its Native allies, English colonial forces destroyed the houses and fields of Nikwasi, worried that the people were allied with the French. They used the townhouse on top of Nikwasi Mound as a field hospital.
After the troops left, the Cherokee returned and rebuilt the town. In 1776 Nikwasi was destroyed during the American Revolutionary War by colonial American troops led by Griffith Rutherford. The Cherokee rebuilt and reoccupied the town afterward. By treaties in 1817 and 1819, they ceded the land around Nikwasi to North Carolina. European-American settlers were granted 4,000 acres (16 km²) at the site of Nikwasi, where they created the town of Franklin, North Carolina (Duncan 2003:153).
In 1980, the former village site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an archaeological site.[1]. The mound stands at near its original height, but it is is only half its original size in area. As the area around the mound has been filled level for construction, the mound has to be seen closely to be appreciated.
[edit] References
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html.
- ^ "The South Appalachian Mississippian Tradition", The Woodland and Mississippian Periods in North Carolina, Research Laboratories of Archeology, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, accessed 15 December 2011
[edit] External links
- "Nikwasi", Macon County Historical Society
[edit] Further reading
- Duncan, Barbara R. and Riggs, Brett H. Cherokee Heritage Trails Guidebook. University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill (2003). ISBN 0-8078-5457-3
- Mooney, James. Myths of the Cherokee (1900, reprint 1995).
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- Archaeological sites in North Carolina
- Mississippian culture
- Cherokee towns
- Pre-historic towns in the United States
- Former populated places in North Carolina
- National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina
- Geography of Macon County, North Carolina
- Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina
