Cherokee Heritage Trails Guidebook

Christian Science Monitor, September 24, 2003
Both comprehensive and authoritative. A number of native American groups have added their distinctive voices to this volume.

Book Description
Enriched by Cherokee voices, this guidebook offers a unique journey into the lands and culture of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in the mountains of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. Every year millions of tourists visit these mountains, drawn by the region's great natural beauty and diverse cultural traditions. Many popular aspects of Cherokee culture are readily apparent. Beneath the surface, however, lies a deeper Cherokee heritage--rooted in sacred places, community ties, storytelling, folk arts, and centuries of history. Cherokee Heritage Trails Guidebook is your introduction to this vibrant world. The book is organized around seven geographical hubs or communities within the original Cherokee homeland. Each chapter covers sites, side trips, scenic drives, and events. Cherokee stories, history, poems, and philosophy enrich the text and reveal the imagination of Cherokees past and present. The Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee, North Carolina, is the main interpretive center for the Cherokee Heritage Trails. Among the many other featured sites are Kituhwa Mound, origin of the mother town of the Cherokee; Junaluska Memorial and Museum, with a preserved gravesite and medicine plant trail; and Unicoi Turnpike Trail, part of the Trail of Tears and one of sixteen national millennium trails in the United States. The Cherokee Heritage Trails are a project of the Blue Ridge Heritage Initiative and its partners, the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, the North Carolina Arts Council, the Tennessee Overhill Heritage Association, the North Carolina Folklife Institute, the Tennessee Arts Commission, and the Blue Ridge Parkway Division of the National Park Service.

About the Author
Barbara R. Duncan is Education Director at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee, North Carolina, and editor of Living Stores of the Cherokee. Brett H. Riggs is a research archaeologist at the Research Laboratories in Archaeology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.


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Though a federal law of 1837 forced the removal of the Cherokee from their traditional homeland to beyond the Mississippi, travelers who want to know about the Cherokee, their history, traditions, and way of life, will find much to see and do when they visit their historic homeland. Readers wishing to explore sites in Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina will understand where to go, what they are seeing, and why these places are relevant to the history of the Cherokee. Emphasis is on history and what is there now; places and the countryside itself; but visitors cannot help but be aware of the genocidal policies that displaced the Cherokee. This book, part travel guide, part history, is one of the most carefully done works of its kind this reviewer has ever seen. Brief historical essays appear in highlighted boxes, and there are excellent color pictures. Duncan and Riggs mostly sidestep the Civil War history aspects of the countryside, but that information is readily available elsewhere. Will also appeal to the non-traveler who would like a general overview history of the Cherokee. KLIATT Codes: SA;Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2003, Univ. of North Carolina Press, 368p. illus. bibliog. index., Boardman


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