Cherokee Heritage Trails Guidebook

Enriched by Cherokee voices, this guidebook offers a unique journey into the lands and culture of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in the mountains of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. Every year millions of tourists visit these mountains, drawn by the region’s great natural beauty and diverse cultural traditions. Many popular aspects of Cherokee culture are readily apparent; beneath the surface, however, lies a deeper Cherokee heritage — rooted in sacred places, community ties, storytelling, folk arts, and centuries of history.

Cherokee Heritage Trails Guidebook is your introduction to this vibrant world. The book is organized around seven geographical hubs or communities within the original Cherokee homeland. Each chapter covers sites, side trips, scenic drives, and events. Cherokee stories, history, poems, and philosophy enrich the text and reveal the imagination of Cherokees past and present.

The Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee, North Carolina, is the main interpretive center for the Cherokee Heritage Trails. Among the many other featured sites are Kituhwa Mound, origin of the mother town of the Cherokees; Junaluska Memorial and Museum, with a preserved gravesite and medicine plant trail; and Unicoi Turnpike Trail, part of the Trail of Tears and one of sixteen national millennium trails in the United States.

Barbara R. Duncan is Education Director at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee, North Carolina, and editor of Living Stories of the Cherokee.

Brett H. Riggs is a research archaeologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.