Cherokee, North Carolina

This was actually two separate trips, one in 2005 and another in 2007. The photos from each got mixed into the same folder, so I’m no longer sure which ones were on which dates. This was before the days of digital cameras with dates and time stamps. They were actual paper photos that got scanned in somewhere along the way.

One of these visits to Cherokee, North Carolina, included a stop by Ghost Town in Maggie Valley. I’m assuming that was the 2007 visit due to the date stamp on the skylift photo below. During that trip, we stayed at an Airbnb that was a log cabin that came with a dog who looked suspiciously like a wolf.

Maggie Valley was a touch nostalgic for me. I remember going there with my aunt and uncle as a child, back around 1969 or so. It was briefly reopened in 2005, and I’m glad my daughters got to experience it before it closed again. We got to see the “gunfight” and the saloon.

We also toured the Cherokee museum and Oconaluftee Village. At the village, we saw a presentation on Cherokee spiritual beliefs. We attended a performance of Unto These Hills, which was a bit of nostalgia for me because I first got to see the original version of the play in 1978, right after I graduated high school, and we went on a road trip in celebration. The 1978 trip involved me, my younger brother, my father, and both my grandfathers. We started in Antreville, South Carolina, toured the Appalachians, and ended with a visit to the Fiddlers’ Convention in Galax, Virginia. Part of that 1978 trip was a stop at Cherokee to see Unto These Hills. I remember being taken by the play back then, so I’m glad my family got to see it too.

The version my family got to see was a bit different from the 1978 version that I saw with my Dad and grandfathers, which was written by white men. The version we saw in 2007 was written by a Native American Kiowa, and featured many native dances, rites, and stories. In my opinion, it was a much better version.

We went whitewater rafting on the Nantahala as well. As a family of river rats, this was one of the highlights of the trip.

While we were in Cherokee, we saw many historical sites and got to see the site of Echota, the “Mother Village” of the Cherokee. We finished it all up with a 4th of July Fireworks show.