Cherokee in Swain County, North Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)

Mountains: Refuge and Healing

Photographed By Stanley and Terrie Howard, June 18, 2011

1. Mountains; Refuge and Healing Marker

Inscription. Clingmans Dome is a sacred mountain to the Cherokees, where the Magic Lake was once seen. The Great Spirit told the Cherokees that, “if they love me, if they love all their brothers and sisters, and if they love the animals of the earth, when they grow old and sick, they can come to magic lake and be made well again.”

For Cherokees, these mountains have meant a refuge, homeland, and a mythical and spiritual foundation for their people. During the Indian Removal Period of the 1800s known as the Trail of Tears, the mountains meant safety from pursuing soldiers. Today these slopes provide a refuge and offer inspiration for visitors from a hectic modern society.

Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find that going to the mountains is going home.
Naturalist John Muir, 1898

What do these mountains mean to you?

Erected by National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Native Americans. A significant historical year for this entry is 1898.

Location. 35° 33.398′ N, 83° 29.775′ W. Marker is in Cherokee, North Carolina, in Swain County. Marker can be reached from Clingmans Dome Road, 7.2 miles west of U.S. 441. Touch for map

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. Marker is in this post office area: Cherokee NC 28719, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 5 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. And It Became Land (a few steps from this marker); The Top of the Smokies (within shouting distance of this marker); Southern View (approx. 0.4 miles away); Eastern View (approx. 0.4 miles away); Northern View (approx. half a mile away); Western View (approx. half a mile away); Indian Gap Road (approx. 4.6 miles away in Tennessee); Horace Kephart's Last Permanent Camp (approx. 5 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Cherokee.

More about this marker. In the center is an "Illustration by Cherokee artist Shan Goshorn"

Also see . . . Clingmans Dome. Great Smoky Mountains National PArk (Submitted on June 28, 2011, by Bernard Fisher of Richmond, Virginia.)

Photographed By Bill Coughlin, August 6, 2012

2. Mountains: Refuge and Healing Marker

Photographed By Stanley and Terrie Howard, June 18, 2011

3. Mountains; Refuge and Healing Marker

Clingmans dome 6,643 ft image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Stanley and Terrie Howard, June 18, 2011

4. Clingmans dome 6,643 ft

Credits. This page was last revised on October 11, 2016. It was originally submitted on June 27, 2011, by Stanley and Terrie Howard of Greer, South Carolina. This page has been viewed 804 times since then and 25 times this year. Photos: 1. submitted on June 27, 2011, by Stanley and Terrie Howard of Greer, South Carolina. 2. submitted on August 15, 2012, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey. 3, 4. submitted on June 27, 2011, by Stanley and Terrie Howard of Greer, South Carolina. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.