When Bartram leaves the trader’s cabin somewhere near modern-day Otto he is travelling into a more settled section of the valley, despite its being destroyed fifteen years earlier in the French and Indian wars. He describes a well-travelled and agricultural landscape that has continued to this day, albeit full of modern highways now, all of them built atop these old trails, and small but industrial agriculture operations throughout the valley. The valley was settled and farmed for over a thousand years before Bartram’s arrival, crisscrossed with trails between villages and layered with a dense Cherokee cosmology that Bartram no doubt felt as he made his way towards Cowee. When he reaches Nikwasi mound (modern day Franklin) he makes little mention of it, though historically it was the gateway town to Cowee and the abode of the Nunehi, small Cherokee warriors which lived within the mound. Nikwasi, or Noquisiyi, as it is called by the Cherokee and before Anglicization of the word, was one of the many spiritual, diplomatic, and ceremonial centers of the Cherokee people before removal, and only recently has been returned to Cherokee ownership.
Nikwasi means star place, which may relate to the high concentrations of mica in the surrounding mountains, mica that was used ceremonially and traded far and wide by the Cherokees. Mica traded from this era has been found in cultural sites as far away as the upper Ohio River valley. The town was destroyed during the French and Indian Wars and the council house that sat atop the mound was used as a field hospital for British soldiers. It was destroyed again by American Revolutionaries the year after Bartram passed by and never recovered. Yet today the Cherokee, along with partners in the non-profit Nikwasi Initiative and Mainspring Conservation Trust, have been reacquiring these ancient town sites, including Nikwasi, Watauga, Cowee, and Kituwah mounds.
Bartram continues on past Nikwasi to Watauga town, a few miles north of Franklin, where he describes a council house on a mound, and fields of beans and corn that he must meander his horse through until reaching a standstill and afraid of trampling the crops. He is greeted by the Chief of Watauga, who welcomes him heartily and prepares him food. Bartram’s visit here is not long, but it is a significant entry in his journal. He remarks on the respect that he receives, but also on his own respect for the Cherokee people and their customs:
“During my continuance here , about half an hour, I experienced the most perfect and agreeable hospitality conferred upon me by these happy people; I mean happy and in their dispositions, in their apprehensions of rectitude with regard to our social or moral conduct: O divine simplicity and truth, friendship without fallacy or guile, hospitality disinterested, native, undefiled, unmodified by artificial refinements.”
Bartram describes a ceremonial smoking of tobacco with the Chief, which was accomplished with a four-foot-long pipe, adorned with snake skins and feathers, and a bright conversation with him about Commissioner of Indian Affairs, John Stuart, who was respected by the Cherokees for his honesty. The Chief then has his sons feed corn to Bartram’s horse – a sign of great honor and respect and reserved for who the Cherokees held in highest esteem. The Chief then shows Bartram the path to Cowee and accompanies him for two of the five miles to the town. Bartram arrives in Cowee at noon, the diplomatic capital of the Middle Town Cherokees, describing its beauty along with the respect and hospitality which he was received.
Use your imagination as you travel this section of the landscape, not only envisioning the past but the future. Key acquisitions by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Mainspring Conservation Trust, the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, Macon County, the town of Franklin, the Nikwasi Initiative and the Blue Ridge Bartram Trail Conservancy are stitching the landscape together into a world class cultural heritage corridor that will protect important cultural and sacred sites, as well as the high biodiversity of the Little Tennessee River watershed.