Noquisiyi Mound returns to Cherokee
Mia Overton
editor@thefranklinpress.com
After 200 years, the Noquisiyi Mound is being returned to the Cherokee people.
In what was referred to as a historic, meaningful moment, the Franklin Town Council unanimously approved a resolution on Jan. 5 endorsing the transfer of the Noquisiyi (Nikwasi) Mound to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
“This is something that’s been a long time coming, and in my individual opinion, long overdue,” said Franklin Mayor Stacy Guffey.
The mound has never been fully excavated so the exact date of its creation is not known. However, it appears on maps of the area as early as 1566. In 1819 Na-Ka “Rebecca” Morris, a Cherokee woman, and her husband, Gideon Morris, were deeded a 640-acre reserve along the Little Tennessee River, across from the mound. A year later they were burned out of their home and forced to give up their land. Na-Ka is one of the women depicted in the “Sowing the Seeds of the Future” sculpture located in the Women’s History Park at the town bridges in East Franklin.
After North Carolina ordered that the land be surveyed and subdivided, the mound changed owners and was privately owned for more than a century. Guffey shared how the mound was saved from possible destruction in 1946.
“A group of people here in Franklin came together and decided that it was something that should be saved with perpetuity,” Guffey said.
In 1946, the mound’s owner, Roy Carpenter, was offered $3,000 for the property. He proposed selling it to the Town of Franklin for $1,500. Members of the community, including school children who donated their change, came together to purchase the mound, which was deeded to the Town of Franklin on Oct. 7, 1946. The amount raised would be nearly $25,000 today. The fundraising effort led to the creation of the Macon County Historical Society, which now operates the Historical Museum on Main Street.
The mound remained under the town’s ownership until May 6, 2019, when it was transferred to the Noquisi (Nikwasi) Initiative, a North Carolina nonprofit formed with the purpose of preserving the site. As part of the agreement, public access to the mound had to be continued. The Noquisi Initiative proposed that the title be given to the EBCI. Members of the Initiative met in closed session with the Town Council at the December meeting.
Guffey said he recently talked with one of the women who had been involved with saving the mound in 1946 and told her about the plan to transfer the mound back to the Cherokee. “Her comment was, ‘Well, it’s come full circle now because that’s why we did it in the first place. It should go back to the Cherokee people,’” he said.
Following approval of the resolution to return the mound to the EBCI, the council also unanimously approved a resolution recognizing the efforts made by the town and its citizens for saving and preserving the mound over the years.
Vice Mayor Mike Lewis suggested that Oct. 7, the date of the 1946 deed, be commemorated annually and perhaps have an educational component involving local school children.
Preserving the past and future cooperation
Guffey said returning the mound would build cooperation between the town and the tribe and there would be some economic benefits. “But the fundamental reason to do this is because it is the right thing to do.”
Franklin Town Attorney John Henning said the EBCI’s attorney general’s office has reviewed the preservation agreement that was in place when it was transferred to Noquisi Initiative. “The changes to it, in my view, are that the terms of which they accept are minimal,” Henning said. “It provides for the preservation of the mound. Things like public access do not change in the proposed transfer. It really leaves the town as still the partner . . . a partner in stewardship with the Eastern Band.”
Noquisi Initiative board member Bob McCollum said, “Eighty years ago, some of my relatives, some of your relatives, started this process, and what I would like to see here tonight is a vote of good faith. Let’s do close the loop on this.”
McCollum said the move could set a “gold standard” for other communities across the country that face similar situations.
Noquisi Initiative Executive Director Elaine Eisenbraun said the vote on the transfer would complete a circle.
“Some people say you can’t go home. I don’t know if I believe that,” Eisenbraun said. “But the interesting thing is it’s not just people that can come home. It’s places that can come home too. And that mound wants to come home to its people.”
Amber Allen, project director for Noquisi Initiative, said she was happy to see the transfer come to fruition and the opportunities it can create between EBCI and the town, especially with the planned development of the former Dan’s Auto Center, which the Tribal Council recently named Gaduni Kanohesgi, meaning “Franklin Storyteller.”
The building, which is owned by the EBCI, is located next to the mound and Noquisi Initiative has talked about creating a Cherokee culture learning center there.
“We think about that building, and we think about not only just bringing more of our people down to Franklin; just think about the people of Franklin knowing the history of what was here and what the future will bring,” Allen said.
Angelina Jumper, the Cultural Resources supervisor for the Eastern Band and Noquisi Initiative board member, thanked the town for helping to steward the mound.
“We’ve got thousands of years’ worth of history with this mound. But, to know that your town has protected it and safeguarded it in the way that it has just is completely something I almost don’t even have words for,” she said.
Jumper said the Noquisiyi Mound is one of the few mounds in such a public place as most are located off the beaten path and a lot of mound sites have been plowed and damaged over the years.
“When you drive through the town of Franklin, you can see that mound is still high and full of all of the history, ceremony, medicine and love that not only we have put into it, but now we’ve had hundreds of years’ worth of your town putting that love into it as well. So, thank you all,” Jumper said.
With the transfer of the mound to the Eastern Band, Jumper said the Town of Franklin would not be separated from it.
“We are really going to need the co-stewardship of the mound from you guys, and the support around what takes place going forward,” she said.
“I look forward to seeing how the tribe collaborates with you guys and making that vision real, and bringing the true essence of what the mound means to us as Cherokee people into anything like an interpretive center or signage or, just continuing to grow the knowledge that this town has and respect really for the Cherokee people,” she continued. “It’s a really meaningful moment for us, and I can’t wait to see where the collaboration and the future partnership of Noquisiyi goes from here.”
Following the vote, McCollum thanked the Franklin Town Council, and Guffey told them, “You made history tonight.”