Whittier, North Carolina

Ela is an unincorporated community in Swain County, North Carolina, United States, located along US 19, northwest of Whittier and east of Bryson City. The name is derived from ᎡᎳᏬᏗ (Elawodi) in the Cherokee language, which translates as "yellow hill." Ela was once the junction of the Appalachian Railway (1906-1935) and Southern Railway's Murphy Branch.

The Abel Hyatt House is a historic house in rural Swain County, North Carolina. It is located about 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Bryson City, 300 yards (270 m) east of Highway 74, on the banks of the Tuckasegee River. The two-story brick I-house was built in 1880 by Abel Hyatt, a farmer, and is the only known 19th-century masonry house in the county. It is a fine example of vernacular Greek Revival style.The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

Kituwa (also spelled Kituwah, Keetoowah, Kittowa, Kitara and other similar variations) or giduwa (Cherokee:ᎩᏚᏩ) is an ancient Native American settlement near the upper Tuckasegee River, and is claimed by the Cherokee people as their original town. An earthwork platform mound, built about 1000 CE, marks a ceremonial site here. The historic Cherokee built a townhouse on top that was used for their communal gatherings and decisionmaking; they replaced it repeatedly over decades. They identify Kituwa as one of the "seven mother towns" in their traditional homeland of the American Southeast. This site is in modern Swain County, North Carolina, in the Great Smoky Mountains. The Cherokee lost control of this site to the United States in the early 19th century. In the late 1830s, most of their people in the Southeast were forcibly removed by US forces to Indian Territory. Descendants of those who remained in North Carolina formed the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), which is federally recognized. Kituwa (31Sw2) was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 because of its historic and archeological significance. In 1996 the EBCI purchased 309 acres of land, including Kituwa mound and the former town site. They have conducted archeological surveys that have added to their knowledge about the long history of the site and Cherokee uses, including burials there. As a result, they have decided to leave this sacred site undeveloped. Since the mid-19th century, the term "Keetoowah" has been associated with Cherokee people, initially full-blood only, who supported a kind of religious nationalism. They adhered to pre-contact communal ways. Conservative descendants of Cherokee who had migrated to Arkansas and Indian Territory in the 1810s and 1820s later formed what is now the federally recognized tribe of the United Keetoowah Band, based in Oklahoma. During the 19th century, after removal to Indian Territory, there were Cherokee groups who identified as Keetoowah, at times forming secret societies that maintained rituals and sacred ceremonies.

Wilmot is an unincorporated community in Jackson County, North Carolina, United States. Wilmot is located along U.S. Route 74, West of Dillsboro and East of Whittier. As the Western North Carolina Railroad constructed the Murphy Branch, Wilmot served as a whistle stop and a point of access to the railroad for area logging companies.

Cherokee (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩ, romanized: Tsalagi) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Swain and Jackson counties in Western North Carolina, United States, within the Qualla Boundary land trust. Cherokee is located in the Oconaluftee River Valley around the intersection of U.S. Routes 19 and 441. As of the 2020 census, the CDP had a population of 2,195. It is the capital of the federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, one of three recognized Cherokee tribes and the only one in North Carolina. The community also serves as a tourist destination, with numerous campgrounds, motels, and hotels serving visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with a major entrance to the park lying within the community. The Cherokee Historical Association runs the Oconaluftee Indian Village, a living-history museum, as well as the popular outdoor drama Unto These Hills, and is associated with the Museum of the Cherokee People. Cherokee serves as the southern terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Oconaluftee River flows through the town and is popular for tubing.

The Oconaluftee Indian Village is a replica of an 18th-century eastern Cherokee community founded in 1952 and located along the Oconaluftee River in Cherokee, North Carolina, United States.

The Cherokee Botanical Garden and Nature Trail is a botanical garden and nature trail located beside the Oconaluftee Indian Village, off U.S. Route 441 in Cherokee, North Carolina. The garden displays more than 150 species of plants native to the Great Smoky Mountains, with an herb garden and 0.5 miles of walking trail through a mixed pine and hardwood forest along the slopes of Mount Noble.

Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resort is a casino and hotel on the Qualla Boundary in Cherokee, North Carolina. It is owned by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) and operated by Caesars Entertainment. It is located on the site of the former Frontier Land theme park.

The Museum of the Cherokee People (MTCP), formerly known as the Museum of the Cherokee Indian (MCI), is a 501(c)3 nonprofit cultural arts and history museum, educational center, and archive founded in 1948, and located in Cherokee, North Carolina. The museum provides permanent exhibitions, an artifact collection, workshops, educational programs, and a museum store. The museum was previously operated by the Cherokee Historical Association, but later became its own entity. It has been part of the North American Reciprocal Museum Association.

The Frye-Randolph House and Fryemont Inn are a pair of historic properties on Fryemont Road in Bryson City, North Carolina. The two buildings occupy a prominent site overlooking the Tuckasegee River and Bryson City, and are well-known local landmarks. The house is an L-shaped wood-frame structure, whose oldest portion was built c. 1895 by Amos Frye, a prominent local lawyer and landowner. The inn is a rustic mountain lodge, two stories high, part of which is clad in bark shingles. It was built by the Fryes in 1923, and is a well-preserved example of a period vacation hotel.The properties, now under separate ownership, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The inn is still in operation.

The Bryson City Island Park is a small island located in Bryson City, North Carolina, United States. Located within the Tuckasegee River, at the mouth of historic Deep Creek, which flows from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The Swain County Courthouse is a historic courthouse located at Main and Fry Streets in Bryson City, the county seat of Swain County, North Carolina. The two-story Classical Revival structure was designed by Frank Pierce Milburn and R. S. Smith, and built in 1908. It has a central core block, which is fronted by a Classical tetrastyle portico with Ionic columns and has a hip roof. This block is flanked by symmetrical wings, except for the southern facade, where a secondary entrance is flanked by Ionic pilasters. It is the county's third courthouse; the first was a log structure built in 1872, and the second was built in 1880 after the first burned down.The courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The building is now used as the Swain County Heritage Museum.