County InformationGraham County covers 433 square miles with elevation ranges from 1,177 to 5,560 feet. Two-thirds of the county is National Forest. It is the home of Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, Slickrock Creek Wilderness Area, Snowbird Backcountry Area, Nantahala National Forest, and borders the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Appalachian Trail winds through the county making its trek from Georgia to Maine. Robbinsville, the sleepy county seat, has a population of about 800. There are traffic jams twice each year - for homecoming and the Christmas parade. The biggest celebration of the year is the annual 4th of July Heritage Festival. Another big draw is the Graham County Rescue Squad's Ramp Fest held each year on the last Sunday in April. |
 Relax and take in the extraordinary sites. |
Come and enjoy our beautiful waterways. |
Fun on the WaterGraham County's trout streams have earned a national reputation. The local creeks are opened to fishing starting every April to February. Fontana Lake has some 25 miles of waters to explore. The entire north shore is the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and much of the southern shoreline is National Forest. Fontana Dam and Historic Fontana Village are a must see for the vacationer. Lake Santeetlah's shoreline is more than 75% National Forest; insurance that it will never be spoiled by development. Many visitors enjoy the solitude of the lake even on the busiest of summer weekends. |
Looking for CultureThose looking for a little western North Carolina culture should plan on stopping at the Stecoah Valley Center where a variety of cultural events are scheduled and live Appalachian music played every Saturday night throughout the summer. Another popular activity is visiting the local crafters and artisans both at the Stecoah Valley Center and at their shops around the county. Locally grown produce, available all summer at roadside markets, will probably be one of your better memories. |
 Please share your experiences with us by email. Hope you enjoyed your stay! |
Outdoor AdventuresActivities in Graham County lean toward outdoor adventures. Hiking, whitewater rafting, canoeing, kayaking, fly-fishing, lake fishing, boating, jet skiing, hunting, horseback riding, nature photography, and mountain biking are some of the more strenuous activities. Others prefer the quiet restfulness of the forest, waterfalls, mountains, lakes, and streams. Many motorcyclists and sports car enthusiasts come to ride the Tail of the Dragon at Deal's Gap and the Cherohala Skyway. |
 |
Cherokee HeritageThe Graham County Indians known locally as the Snowbird Indians are the heirs of a great and powerful Cherokee Indian nation that existed in the Southern Appalachian Region long before the white settlers moved into these mountains. The proper name by which the Cherokee called themselves is "Yun-Wiya" which means or signifies "real people". The Cherokee are said to be of the Iroquoian stock and originally dwelt about the headwaters of the Ohio River. Wars with their neighbors over the years caused the Cherokee to move south into mountain regions, including the valleys of Stecoah, Cheoah and Yellow Creek in Graham County. The Cherokee of Graham County had to defend themselves against warring Creeks to the south, on the west against the Chickasaws and the Shawnees, on the north against the Iroquois. Click here for more information on how the Cherokee movements. Left: This page is a dedication to Edna Chekelelee 1933 - 1995 The whites too as their forces grew stronger began to make ever increasing demands upon the Cherokee. In 1798 they signed the Treaty of Tellico surrendering a portion of their lands with the pledge from the government that it would "guarantee the remainder of their county forever." The government did not keep its pledge as is clearly indicated by further demand reflected in the second and third Treaties of Tellico in 1804 and 1805. The Cherokee made every effort to adapt their ways and survive as a nation. A written language was developed; a national newspaper was published in their own language; a constitution was written following closely the representative model of the U.S. government. No nation ever made greater progress in so short a period of time. However the Cherokee as a nation was engaged in an unending struggle for its survival. The Cherokee were able to hold their mountain land until the coming of the white settlers. In 1738 the Cherokee population was greatly reduced by an epidemic of smallpox. In 1540 De Soto encountered the Cherokee in the mountain valleys of this region, the first contact with the white man. Life in Graham County for the Cherokee was a life of farming, hunting and fishing. In the early 1800's trading parties moved into Graham County followed closely by the white settlers as the great westward movement pushed onward. |
Trail of TearsEarly records show that the first white settlers lived harmoniously with the Cherokee in Graham County until the U. S. government undertook to move the Cherokee out of their mountain lands to far away Oklahoma in an episode unequalled for grief and pathos by any other passage in our national history. Gold had been found in the Cherokee lands and the Indians without deliberation were forced to leave Graham County and other tribally occupied lands. It was said the Indian did not need gold and furthermore could hunt upon the level plains. The great movement west popularized as the "Trail of Tears" started in 1838. Click here for more information on the Trail of Tears. The roundup of the Cherokee in Graham County began with the arrival of the forces of General Winfield Scott. A stockade was built in Stecoah and a larger fort constructed on Fort Hill to be known as Fort Montgomery. The Cherokee were pushed from their cherished homes, cultivated fields, expansive hunting grounds; hence herded into the humiliating compounds by entire families as specified by army orders. Men, women and children were seized without notice at bayonet point wherever they could be found and removed to the stockades. Livestock and all major household goods went to the white successors who often immediately burned the homes and even dug into Indian graves searching for valuables. In October 1838 the procession of exiles began composed of 14,000 including the old, the sick, and the young with only the most meager of provisions - cooking utensils, blankets and small remembrances in six hundred wagon. Winter came in mid-journey and the weary travelers averaged ten miles a day over the frozen earth. Often they stopped to bury their dead and worship the Great Spirit. Meanwhile a new President, Martin Van Buren, near Christmas 1838, reported to Congress that all had gone well. The whole removal was reported having "the happiest effects." A provisional military road was built by General Scott and his soldiers across the mountains to Andrews and Murphy for destination Chattanooga and the long, shameful journey by the way of Illinois and Missouri to the designated area in Oklahoma. The road leads up Long Creek over the Snowbird Mountains. The survey of the road known locally as the Tatham Gap Road was effected by James Tatham without an instrument. Not all the Cherokee in Graham County were caught up in the army roundup. A goodly number of our Cherokee escaped into the mountains of the Snowbird, Buffalo and Santeetlah area and hid out where a number of their heirs reside until this day. |
 Click Here to visit the official home page of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians |
 Click Here to visit the official website dedicated to Chief Junaluska Memorial and Museum. |
Will Thomas and JunaluskaProbably the most prominent leader of Cherokee in Graham County was Junaluska He had come to the attention of President Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814 when Jackson was leading a force against the Creek Indians. It is generally accepted by historians that Junaluska saved Jackson's life during the battle. The barbarous Creek Indians had secured themselves in the bend of the Tallapoosa River in a curvature resembling a horseshoe. Nature had furnish a situation of defense near impossible to penetrate. To approach it would expose an arm to cross fire from the enemy. Junaluska and his warriors swam under cover of darkness and the firing of muskets and rifles to the peninsula and seized the canoes of the enemy at mortal peril and set fire to a few of the buildings there situated. It is said that Junaluska "braved the worst and achieved the most at the telling crisis of the battle." Click here for more information on the Junaluska. The great leader went with his people to the Oklahoma land, later returned, walking the entire route back to Graham County. Junaluska continued still to be a leader of his people. After his return, the state of North Carolina gave him a large tract of land in Graham County. In addition to the 337 acres of land, the 1847 North Carolina legislature made Junaluska a citizen of North Carolina and gave him $100.00. The land given to Junaluska now incorporates part of Robbinsville and Mill town. Junaluska would meet with the Snowbird Indian Council leaders
at the Council grounds where he is now buried in the town of
Robbinsville. The Cherokee leader died in 1858 after a long and hard
struggle to keep his people in the mountains he loved. The story is told
that Junaluska was an old and sick man before his death. There was
supposed to have been a healing spring used by the Cherokee across the
mountain at Citico, Tennessee. Junaluska was on the trail leading to the
healing spring when his death took place. Colonel Will H. Thomas was a white leader of the Cherokee in the early history of Graham County. Thomas purchased lands in Graham County for the Cherokee on their return from the west and for those that had hidden out from the western movement. Most of the land was purchased on Little Snowbird. Col. Thomas formed a regiment of North Carolina Troops for the Confederate States in the War Between the States. The Sixty-Ninth Regiment-Infantry, was in part composed of Indian Companies, and was a portion of what was known as "Thomas Legion." Company "A" of the Regiment had Graham County Indians listed by the names, Second Lt. Peter Greybeard, Ground Squirrel, Atowhee, Chowah, Kooe-Skooe, Ochumteh, Tetoltogib, Owl Watta and Junaluskee. |
NC Cherokee Post 1872After the formation of Graham County 1872, action was taken to set up some type school system for the Cherokee. On Sept. 1880, a school district was set up to include the Indians. Like all early schools, the Cherokee went to the one teacher schoolhouse. So Cherokee children were sent to school at Yellow Hill in Swain County. J. F. Hyde was one of the white schoolteachers that taught the Cherokee in Graham County. Many teachers have served the Indians faithfully at Snowbird throughout the years. The last teachers at Snowbird were Al Lee and his wife who served until the Indians were transferred to Robbinsville Schools in 1963. The Snowbird Community continues to be served by an education specialist, Mrs. Rebecca Harless, assigned by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, who promotes all types of educational activities with the community. Click here for more information. The Cherokee were farming the lands when the white settlers arrived here in Graham County. Corn was one of the main crops. The streams and woodlands constituted a good source of food. The Cherokee used timber to build their early homes during the days of the white settlement. Cattle raising was introduced by the early settlers and the Cherokee started growing beef. Jno Ropetwister was a Cherokee that was successful in cattle growing. It is said that Ropetwister would drive his large herds of cattle over into Tennessee and sell them for gold coin. After the death of Ropetwister, it seems that both Indians and white became interested in what happened to Ropetwister's gold. Many thought the old Cherokee had saved a great amount of gold during his successful cattle growing and sales. The legend of Ropetwister's gold and what happened to it remains one of the unsolved Cherokee mystery stories in Graham County. According to many historians the Cherokee Indians were the most learned in art and literature of any of the tribes in the United States. One of their number, Sequoyah, invented an alphabet of phonetic syllables and sounds from the Cherokee spoken language. Later he reduced these sounds to a written language, having arrived at a selection of 76 characters. Soon the Cherokee could read and write in their own language. By 1828 they were publishing their own newspaper. Another Cherokee Indian of our country who became legendary
largely because of his age was Old Cheesequire. Cheesequire is reported
to have lived to be 137 years old. The final resting place of the old
Indian who died sometime after the year 1880 on Ground Squirrel Branch
has been located and marked with a large marble marker at the low gap on
the old Indian Trail from the Stump Fort to Fort Montgomery
(Robbinsville). The Cherokee Indians of Graham County are a hardy people who have weathered the hardships of a cruel wilderness, many Indian Tribal Wars, a death march to the West, smallpox epidemic and the coming of the white settlers. In most cases they have been able to retain a pure blood line of the true Cherokee and also preserve their native language. Many of their early customs are retained and the native craftsmanship is present with the older folks. The Graham County Cherokee in the Snowbird, Buffalo, and Santeetlah section is part of the fading memory of a great Cherokee Nation that composed an area of about 40,000 square miles, including parts of Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama |
Pre-centennial HistoryGraham County is practically enclosed by rugged towering mountains on all sides. The western range of the Great Smoky Mountains separating Graham from Tennessee is called the Unicoi Mountains. The southern boundary is the Snowbird Mountains circling to Red Marble Gap, then swinging northward to Cheoah Bald. The northern border is the Little Tennessee River inundated by Fontana Lake. The Cheoah range and the Yellow Creek Mountains traverse the northern part of the county completely boxing in Graham County on all sides with the exception of the rocky gorge of the Cheoah River below Lake Santeetlah where the Little Tennessee enters Tennessee. It is then indeed little wonder that this region was one of the last regions of Western North Carolina to be settled by the white men. Graham County, a part of the Cherokee treaty lands, was not opened to settlement until President Jackson ordered the removal of the Indians in 1838. Click here for more information. In 1838 there was not a road in Graham County except the old Indian trading paths. There is no record of travel by white man across the mountains of Western North Carolina prior to the famous pilgrimage of Daniel Boone in 1769. However, it is believed that Desoto in 1540 was the first white man to look upon the Great Smoky Mountains. It is possible that Boone and later pioneers followed these old Indian paths and other trails made first by deer, bear and other game as they sought the easiest way to travel from |
 Relax and Take in the Extrodanary Sites |
Come and Enjoy our beautiful waterways. |
First look at Graham CountyWilliam Bartram, the first great botanist born in America, was one of the first white men to see the land which was destined to be Graham County. Bartram roved the hills and woodlands collecting and setting down notes of the plant and animal life of this Appalachian area, all of which is recounted in detail in his classic work, The Travels of William Bartram. He established a rapport with the Indians probably unmatched except for Daniel Boone. His lovely descriptions have a poetic favor which only a master naturalist with his intense love of nature could have fathomed. Click here for more information. According to Hiram C. Wilburn of Waynesville who traced William Bartram's 1776 trip through the mountains of Western North Carolina, Bartram came "about 6 or 7 miles down the Tallulah towards Robbinsville" where he spent the night of May 27, 1776. He decided at this point to postpone his search until another time. The reason for his discontinuing of his research in this area is unknown, but he apparently did not return again to this region. It is probable that John and Robert Stratton followed one such trail when they crossed over from Monroe County, Tennessee, during the 1830's and settled on Stratton Bald in the Unicoi Mountains between Sassafras Ridge and Santeetlah Creek. John lived there for ten years and reportedly caught 19 panthers on old Laurel Top, making "panther bacon" of their shoulders and hams, thus earning the nickname "Bacon John." He arrived on Stratton Bald with nothing but his rifle, blanket, cooking utensils and ammunition but earned enough herding cattle, selling deer, bear hams and hides to buy a fine farm in Tennessee. Ironically, the first wagon road in Graham County was brought about by the Removal itself. Soldiers under orders from General Winfield Scott moved into the area and erected Fort Montgomery on the Indians' ball ground. The area overlooking Robbinsville is the present location of the American Components plant and the 28 houses built by the Rural Development Authority. Fort Montgomery was constructed under direction of Dr. Dan F. Summey of Asheville for use in corralling the Indians in 1838 prior to removal to Oklahoma. |
First RoadsA makeshift highway was built from Old Valley Town (Andrews) to Fort Montgomery near Robbinsville for use of the soldiers in evacuating the Indians. Over this first wagon road came the first preacher, Reverend Joseph A. Wiggins, a distinguished Methodist Minister. The Rev. Joseph A. Wiggins, father of the late Walt Wiggins, was born on Alarka Creek in 1832, but moved to Graham County with his father Abraham in 1840. He found a few hardy white families. In the. valleys, the Cherokees had their villages where they raised corn, barley, pumpkins and ceremonial tobacco while they hunted wild game on the rugged mountain slopes. Click here for more information. There were no mills except a few grist mills. Wheat was "packed" on horses by an Indian trail a distance of about thirty miles to a mill five miles from what is now Bryson City. Indian relics were plentiful at that time at the Meadows on the head of Tallulah Creek. |
 Please Share Your Experences with us by Email. Hope You Enjoyed Your Stay! |
1840-1874Sometime between 1840-1843 Thomas Cooper and Col. William H. Thomas established a trading post on Rhea Hill on the present Robbinsville school site. This store later remodeled and expanded by George Walker was operated by Thomas Cooper and is believed to be the first store in this section. A little later Wiley King moved to this area and replaced Thomas in the enterprise, and the store became King-Cooper Store. The first post office was established in 1843 housed in the King-Cooper Store with Wiley King as the first postmaster The post office was originally listed as Cheoah Valley, changed to Fort Montgomery in 1849, and still later in 1874 the name was changed to Robbinsville. |
|
CHURCHES
Camp Laurel Chapel - No information available
House of Prayer - Hwy 143 E of Robbinsville, No further information available
Neighborhood House of Prayer - No information available
|