AP
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The highest peak in Great Smoky Mountains National Park officially regains its Cherokee name, more than 150 years after a surveyor named it after a Confederate general.
The U.S. Board of Geographic Names on Wednesday approved a request from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to officially change the name of Clingmans Dome to Kuwohi, according to a park news release. The Cherokee name for the mountain means “mulberry place.”
“The Great Smoky National Park team was proud to support this effort to officially restore the mountain and recognize its significance to the Cherokee people,” Superintendent Cassius Cash said in the press release.
“The Cherokee people have had a strong connection to Kuwohi and the surrounding area long before the national park was established. The National Park Service looks forward to continuing to work with the Cherokee people to tell their story and preserve this landscape together.”
Kuwohi is a sacred site to the Cherokee and, according to the park, is the highest point in the Cherokee traditional homeland. The peak is visible from the Qualla Line, home of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park closes Kuwohi for three half days each year so that predominantly Cherokee schools can visit the mountain and learn about its history.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, is the most visited national park in the United States, and Kuwohi is one of its most popular sites, with over 650,000 visitors per year.
The peak became known as Clingmans Dome after an 1859 survey by geographer Arnold Guyot. The park states that he named it after Thomas Lanier Clingman, a Confederate brigadier general, lawyer, U.S. representative, and senator from North Carolina.
The proposal to restore the name was submitted in January by the paramount chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Michell Hicks.
