GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK (WLOS) — Clingmans Dome, one of the most popular sites in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, has been officially renamed Kuwohi after the U.S. Board of Geographic Names approved a formal request from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) on Wednesday, September 18.
Kuwohi is the Cherokee name for the mountain and means “mulberry place,” according to park officials. It is a sacred place for the Cherokee and the highest point in the Cherokee traditional homeland.
Buncombe County is the first county in Western North Carolina to support the name change of Clingmans Dome.
“The Great Smoky National Park team was proud to support this effort to officially restore the mountain and recognize its significance to the Cherokee people,” Superintendent Cassius Cash said in a written statement Wednesday. “The Cherokee people have had a strong connection to Kuwohi and the surrounding area long before the national park was established. The National Park Service looks forward to continuing to work with the Cherokee people to share their history and preserve this landscape together.”
The name change has been in the works since 2022, when registered EBCI members Lavita Hill and Mary Crowe took the initiative. A proposal was submitted by EBCI CEO Michell Hicks in January 2024.
SEVERAL MOUNTAIN RESIDENTS ARE RECOGNIZED FOR THEIR COMMITMENT TO THEIR COMMUNITY
Park officials said the mountain became known as Clingmans Dome after a survey by geographer Arnold Guyot in 1859 and was named for Thomas Lanier Clingman, a lawyer, U.S. representative and senator from North Carolina, and a Confederate brigadier general.
Kuwohi welcomes more than 650,000 visitors annually and is the highest point in Tennessee and the third highest peak east of the Mississippi. Officials say Kuwohi Park closes for three half days each year to allow primarily Cherokee schools to visit the mountain and learn about Kuwohi’s history.
