americasgreatoutdoors:Often cloaked in haze and fog, the Cherokee people called the Great Smoky Moun
americasgreatoutdoors:Often cloaked in haze and fog, the Cherokee people called the Great Smoky Mountains, “Shaconage,” which means “Land of Blue Smoke.” When the first white settlers reached the area in the late 1700s they found themselves in the land of the Cherokee. The tribe had permanent towns, cultivated croplands, sophisticated political systems and extensive networks of trails. Most of the Cherokee were forcibly removed in the 1830s to Oklahoma in a tragic event known as the “Trail of Tears.” The few who remained are the ancestors of the Cherokees living near Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee today. Photo by Rieza Soelaeman (www.sharetheexperience.org). -- source link