Noquisi Initiative
Cultural Corridor
What started as truly just a reconciliation around the mound issue has grown into a desire to develop a corridor between Cowee Mound and Noquisiyi Mound — and then all the way into the town of Cherokee. Once [Franklin and Cherokee] became reconciled and cohesive as a group, they could see the potential for both communities to have economic growth around that corridor.
—Sharon Fouts Taylor
Part of the Noquisi Initiative's mission is to develop a Cherokee Cultural Corridor along more than 60 miles of the Little Tennessee River, from Cherokee to Franklin and the headwaters of the river.
Along this corridor, visitors will find cultural interpretation and information resources on-site that improve the visibility of important Cherokee landmarks and historic sites. The first piece of this important project was unveiled in 2018: a cultural information kiosk that overlooks Cowee Mound, the site of what once was the center of the ancient Cherokee town Cowee.
Noquisi Initiative placed a second cultural kiosk at Noquisiyi Mound in downtown Franklin in 2020.
​
Signage along the Cultural Corridor is written in both English and the Cherokee syllabary — and gives visitors a sense of the rich, vibrant and complex culture that has existed for hundreds of years in Western North Carolina's mountains.
Click map to enlarge
Above: A drawing of Cherokee representatives by artist Marksman following the April 3, 1730, Noquisiyi council house meeting between Cherokee leaders and Scotsman Sir Alexander Cuming.
​
Below: Antique postcard depicting Noquisiyi Mound in Franklin, North Carolina.