Noquisiyi (later interpreted as Nikwasi) which means star place was a Cherokee town in present-day Franklin, North Carolina. ​Though its exact age remains unknown, Noquisiyi appears on maps as early as 1544, and British colonial records first mention it by name in 1718.

At the heart of Noquisyi on the banks of the Little Tennessee River, the town's meeting hall once towered over the landscape, built atop the mound which was formed by Cherokee women carrying baskets of soil to that location. Today, Noquisiyi Mound, the settlement's only surviving landmark, rises as the gateway to Franklin.

​

In May 2019, Franklin Town Council voted to deed the mound to Noquisi Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the region's important cultural sites. 

​

Noquisi Initiative considers its responsibility to the sanctity of Noquisiyi Mound to be of the utmost import, and will always work to preserve its honor.