Great Smoky Mountains Natl. Park — UPDATE (9/18): The U.S. Board of Geographic Names has approved restoring the "Kuwohi" name to Clingmans Dome with a vote of 20-0.
In 2022, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians' Tribal Council passed a resolution that officially began the process of having its original name restored. As part of that process, several counties showed their support by passing symbolic resolutions, including Knox County and Campbell County.
“The Great Smoky National Park team was proud to support this effort to officially restore the mountain and to recognize its importance to the Cherokee People,” said Cassius Cash, the park's superintendent. “The Cherokee People have had strong connections to Kuwohi and the surrounding area, long before the land became a national park. The National Park Service looks forward to continuing to work with the Cherokee people to share their story and preserve this landscape together.”
For thousands of years before then, it was known as Kuwohi, which means mulberry place. Mulberry is the type of fruit that is grown on the mountain. The mountain is the site of immense cultural and religious importance to the Cherokee.
Kuwohi is the highest point within the traditional Cherokee homeland and is visible from the Qualla Boundary, the home of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. It is one of the most popular sites in the national park with more than 650,000 visitors per year, according to the Great Smoky Mountains.
The park closes the Kuwohi mountain for three half-days annually to provide access to predominantly Cherokee schools to visit the mountain and its history from elders, Cherokee language speakers, culture bearers and community members.
According to the national park, efforts are already underway to update signage, website and other materials with the Kuwohi name.
The movement to restore the name was brought forward by two women, Lavita Hill and Mary Crowe, who are both enrolled in the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The proposal to restore the name started about two years ago, inspired by a Yellowstone Indigenous name restoration.
Thomas L. Clingman was a North Carolina senator and Confederate General. Dan Pierce, a Great Smoky Mountains National Park expert, said Clingman was also a supporter of slavery, so restoring the name didn't have much opposition.
"I haven't seen anything actually, of any sort of movement to defend Clingman on this situation. And again, I think it's totally appropriate to honor the Cherokee in this way because again, this is their ancestral homeland," said Pierce.
In recent years, the National Park Service, also allowed members of the Cherokee tribe to harvest sochan in the park. That expert says this name restoration continues to show the improvements between NPS and Indigenous people.
"I think that there's also a bit of movement throughout the National Park Service to acknowledge these historic connections between native Americans that live on the borders. And this, it's been a long, long sad history and so it's good to see some positive movement," said Pierce.
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ORIGINAL (9/17)
A notable location in the Great Smoky Mountains may soon have its Cherokee name restored more than 150 years after it was changed.
Clingmans Dome was named after a former U.S. Senator who later fought as a commander for the Confederate Army in 1859. For thousands of years before then, it was known as "Kuwohi" by the tribes who lived nearby. On Wednesday, the United States Board on Geographic Names will consider whether to restore the name.
In 2022, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians' Tribal Council passed a resolution that officially began the process of having its original name restored. As part of that process, several counties in the region showed their support by passing resolutions showing symbolic support for the proposal. Knox County and Campbell County were among the counties that showed their support.
The federal board will consider restoring the "Kuwohi" name alongside a long list of other proposed name changes from across the country. If approved, the changes will be updated in the Geographic Names Information System up to four days after the decision. If it isn't approved, the board will need to provide a reason.
"Upon approval by the BGN, any new name or change is immediately official for Federal use. Any previous name should be replaced with the new name," the board said on its website.
"Kuwohi" means "mulberry place," a type of fruit that grows on the mountain. It is of immense cultural and religious importance to the Cherokee, often mentioned in the tribe's teachings and stories. The proposal for the name to be restored said the mountain was the site where a council of Bears met according to some of the tribe's oral teachings.