CNN
—
The best peak at Nice Smoky Mountains Nationwide Park is formally reverting to its Cherokee title greater than 150 years after a surveyor named it for a Accomplice normal.
The U.S. Board of Geographic Names voted on Wednesday in favor of a request from the Japanese Band of Cherokee Indians to formally change the title Clingmans Dome to Kuwohi, in accordance with a information launch from the park. The Cherokee title for the mountain interprets to “mulberry place.”
“The Nice Smoky Nationwide Park group was proud to assist this effort to formally restore the mountain and to acknowledge its significance to the Cherokee Individuals,” Superintendent Cassius Money stated within the launch.
“The Cherokee Individuals have had sturdy connections to Kuwohi and the encircling space, lengthy earlier than the land grew to become a nationwide park. The Nationwide Park Service appears to be like ahead to persevering with to work with the Cherokee Individuals to share their story and protect this panorama collectively.”
Kuwohi is a sacred place for the Cherokee individuals and is the very best level throughout the conventional Cherokee homeland, in accordance with the park. The height is seen from the Qualla Boundary, house of the Japanese Band of Cherokee Indians. Nice Smoky Mountains Nationwide Park closes Kuwohi yearly for 3 half-days in order that predominantly Cherokee colleges can go to the mountain and study its historical past.
Nice Smoky Mountains Nationwide Park, on the Tennessee-North Carolina border, is America’s most visited national park, and Kuwohi is one its hottest websites, with greater than 650,000 guests per 12 months.
The height grew to become referred to as Clingmans Dome following an 1859 survey by geographer Arnold Guyot, who named it for Thomas Lanier Clingman, a Accomplice Brigadier Basic in addition to a lawyer, U.S. Consultant and Senator from North Carolina, in accordance with the park.
The name-restoration proposal was submitted in January by Japanese Band of Cherokee Indians Principal Chief Michell Hicks.