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Nantahala River

Rivers of North CarolinaRivers of Swain County, North CarolinaTributaries of the Little Tennessee River
North Carolina Mountains (Nantahala Bridge) 2004
North Carolina Mountains (Nantahala Bridge) 2004

The Nantahala River () is a river in western North Carolina in the United States, within the Nantahala National Forest, and near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Two-lane U.S. Highway 19/74 runs along the river, picnic areas dotting the route. In 1839, this was an unimproved large path, part of what became known as the Trail of Tears as the Cherokee people were forcibly removed from their homelands in this region to west of the Mississippi River and Indian Territory. The river rises near the border of Georgia and North Carolina, close to the Southern Nantahala Wilderness and the Appalachian Trail. It flows into the Little Tennessee River at Fontana Lake, a reservoir formed behind Fontana Dam. The word Nantahala is Cherokee and means "Land of the Noonday Sun". The river runs through a narrow and steep gorge where in some areas the sun reaches the ground only when it is directly overhead during the middle of the day. During the colonial era, Cherokee towns along the Nantahala, upper Hiwassee River, and Valley River in what is now North Carolina were known as the Valley Towns.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Nantahala River (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Nantahala River
Byrd Road,

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Wikipedia: Nantahala RiverContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 35.383333333333 ° E -83.506666666667 °
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Address

Byrd Road

Byrd Road
28713
North Carolina, United States
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North Carolina Mountains (Nantahala Bridge) 2004
North Carolina Mountains (Nantahala Bridge) 2004
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Tuckasegee River
Tuckasegee River

The Tuckasegee River (variant spellings include Tuckaseegee and Tuckaseigee) flows entirely within western North Carolina. It begins its course in Jackson County below Cullowhee at the confluence of Panthertown and Greenland creeks. It flows in a northwesterly direction into Swain County, where the Oconaluftee flows into it before the Tuckaseegee heads northwest. The county seat, Bryson City developed along both sides of the Tuckaseegee, and Bryson City Island Park was developed. The river next enters Fontana Lake, formed by the Fontana Dam upriver on the Little Tennessee River. The Tuckaseegee ultimately flows as a tributary into the Little Tennessee River below the lake. The name Tuckasegee may be an anglicization or transliteration of the Cherokee word daksiyi—[takhšiyi] in the local Cherokee variety, meaning 'Turtle Place.' Several Cherokee towns developed along the river, including Kituwa, believed to be the "mother town" of the Cherokee. It developed around an earthen platform mound, likely built about 1000 CE. The mound, although reduced in height, is visible on the 309 acres (1.25 km2) of land reacquired in 1996 by the federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. This land also includes the former site of an early 18th-century Cherokee town. The EBCI conducted an archeological survey in 1997 that found evidence of thousands of years of habitation at this site and are keeping it undeveloped as sacred ground. Many of the mounds in this area were built by about 1000 CE, during the South Appalachian Mississippian culture era. In each of their major towns, the Cherokee built a townhouse as their expression of public architecture on top of such a mound, if it existed. The townhouse was the Cherokee expression of public architecture, emphasizing their decentralized society based on community consensus. In some places, they built a townhouse on the main town plaza. The river also has several stone fishing weirs built by prehistoric indigenous peoples. It is believed that the weirs were built by peoples who lived here prior to the Cherokee in the Southeast. The weirs are most easily viewed when water levels are low. One near Webster, North Carolina, is the most intact and has a characteristic "V" shape. Fishing, hiking, and paddling are among the recreational opportunities along the river.