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Clingmans dome
Jessica Webb
editor@thesmokymountaintimes.com
On Thursday, July 14, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Council unanimously approved a resolution in support of restoring the name Kuwahi to the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, known currently as Clingman’s Dome.
This effort, organized locally by EBCI tribal members Lavita Hill and Mary Crowe, follows similar success of the restoration of names of locations on other federal lands in the country, including, recently the renaming of Mount Doane (a military general who led a massacre of a band of Piegan Blackfeet in 1870) in Yellowstone National Park as First Peoples Mountain.
Hill said in a follow-up interview they were inspired by the name change in Yellowstone.
“We’re friends and started talking about how it was a great victory and then it turned into what can we do?” she said.
The two feel strongly about the opportunity to be the voice of their ancestors and restore geographic places to their Cherokee names.
With the council approval, it will receive further study and then go on to the United States Board on Geographic Names for review.
“We were very pleased with the result from tribal council, it was a unanimous vote in support,” Hill said later. “Now, we begin the work. We plan to have public hearings and outreach; this is an educational opportunity.”
The two also plan to go before surrounding county boards for support.
“With Cherokee people and all Indian tribes, we’re saying let us restore the names so we can feel that tie to the mountain once again,” Hill said.
Kuwahi, or Mulberry place, holds special significance to the Cherokee and was visited by medicine people who prayed and sought guidance from the Creator, according to the resolution. This was also a location where several Cherokee ancestors were forced to go to avoid being forced out West during the removal.
Hill, of Big Cove community, said they sought the guidance of several Cherokee elders and speakers about the name and its spelling/pronunciation and were going to be going before the Speakers Council this week.
Myrtle Driver, EBCI language clerk to the board, said she’s always known the name as Kuwohe vs. Kuwahi, and said the mountain is a sacred place. There are myths and legends about Clingmans Dome and one that stands out in my mind is the thunder boys coming from there, she shared.
Hill agreed there are different pronunciations but will confirm it with the Speakers Council for guidance.
Crowe, of Yellow Hill community, shared that stories of places were damaged in the past by imperialism.
“We heard these stories, but boarding school took a lot of this away from us. My dad was one of them fluent speaker, that’s why I can listen to it and keep up with him. In understanding who we are, knowing that not only this is a spiritual it’s a historic and it is a fact today. What I’ve always heard in the stories is they picked up the fire in Kuwahi,” she said, fighting back tears.
The effort is also to promote pride in the Cherokee people and their shared cultural heritage.
“We see this as an avenue for our younger generation to relearn who and what we are as a people,” Crowe said.
The mountain has only been known as Clingman’s Dome since the mid-1900s. Thomas Clingman was a United States Senator from North Carolina who had no substantial ties to the area, according to the resolution. The mountain was named such in 1859 by Arnold Guyot, a European geographer. This geographer was also recorded to be an advocate for “scientific racism.” Clingman was also an advocate of slavery continuing in the South and served as a Confederate general.
Hill said later the two have been asked why pursue this now and if it’s about flipping the racist history, but that’s not their focus.
“Some people think this is a race issue but it’s not. Even though Thomas Clingman is a part of history and there are articles that state he supported scientific racism, that’s not even our issue,” she said. “The issue is the mountain was Kuwahi way before Thomas Clingman was even born. He wasn’t from the area; Let’s restore the name Kuwahi to the mountain rather than name it after someone else.”
Upon approval, Chairman Richard French also thanked Hill and Crowe.
“Thank you, this is so important to us,” he said.
Crowe called this effort a stepping stone in the effort to restore many Cherokee places with their historical names.