Clingmans Dome renamed Kuwohi in honor of Cherokee people who consider the mountain sacred
The highest point in Tennessee will once again be known as Kuwohi after the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians successfully lobbied the U.S. Board of Geographic Names.
The federal board on Sept. 18 unanimously approved the renaming of Clingmans Dome, the observation tower-topped mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians first settled the mountain, which they believed to be sacred, thousands of years ago. The name translates to “the mulberry place.”
The 6,643-foot Kuwohi is one of the most popular sites in Great Smoky Mountains National Park with more than 650,000 visitors per year, according to a release from the National Park Service. It is the tallest point in Tennessee and the third-highest summit east of the Mississippi River.
“The Great Smoky [Mountains] National Park team was proud to support this effort to officially restore the mountain and to recognize its importance to the Cherokee people,” Superintendent Cassius Cash said in a statement. “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.”
A spokesperson for the tribe could not immediately be reached.
Who was Clingman?
The previous name honored Thomas Clingman, a U.S. congressman and senator from North Carolina who advocated for slavery and was expelled from the Senate because of his support for the Confederacy. He would later become a brigadier general in the Confederate Army.
Clingman was an avid explorer who measured several of the peaks that eventually made up the national park. The peak was named for him in 1859.
What is Kuwohi?
Thousands of years before the mountain was named after a North Carolina senator, it was a holy place for generations of Cherokee. Medicine men came to the mountain to pray.
It's where the headwaters of the Little River form and where the tribe hid from U.S. soldiers during the forced Trail of Tears march to the West.
But how do you say it?
The name is pronounced “ku-whoa-hee.”
Renaming U.S. landmarks in national parks
Native names have been restored to other American peaks and sites:
First Peoples Mountain, Yellowstone National Park (previously Mount Doane)
Engine Creek, Great Smoky Mountains National Park (previously Indian Creek or Injun Creek)
Denali, Denali National Park and Preserve (previously Mount McKinley)
Black Elk Peak, Black Hills National Forest (previously Harney Peak)
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Clingmans Dome renamed Kuwohi in Great Smoky Mountains National Park
