A Guide to Kituwah
(- threads, 3 posts)
 History of Kituwah
General Thread
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The history of the Mother Town of the Tsalagi territory
Today all that is left of Kituwah, the Mother Town of the Cherokee, is a mound that stands barely five feet tall between Bryson City and Cherokee, North Carolina. The mound is 170 feet in diameter and rises from a flat stretch of ground near the Tuckaseigee River.
Archaeologists finally declared what Cherokees have known for generations, that this site was once the center of one of the largest and oldest native settlements in that area, possibly inhabited as early as 10,000 years ago.
For the past 200 years, the land of Kituwah has plowed for farming and used for cattle grazing. A small airstrip was built just a stone's throw from the mound itself. These activities gradually flattened the mound, which at one time rose in great splendor from the surrounding fields.
Artifacts found at the sacred site gave evidence of fifteen burials. That is only a small section of the estimated thousand or more graves that are believed to lie under the fertile soil.
The remains of many hearths were discovered around the area, with a large central hearth on the mound, where the sacred fire was continuously kept burning. By tradition, the people came from as far away as hundreds of miles every year to take fire from the mound's hearth for their homes. As part of this annual ritual, they brought ashes from their own hearth or soil from their land to add to the mound.
You can visit our virtual mound here. Add ashes from your own hearth if you like. Wado! (thank-you)
