Visiting Oconaluftee Indian Village

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Daughter Lise, friend Toke, and I enjoyed the tour of outdoor exhibits showing how the Cherokee Indians lived and worked. Our guide was a young man who spoke very rapidly and had a good sense of humor. The people kept working as he spoke, but they answered questions if we wanted more detailed information.

I was interested in the making of pottery, since I’ve seen neighbor Shawn throw a pot on a wheel. These people shaped everything by hand because they didn’t have a wheel. Instead of using a kiln, they built a fire in the ground and turned the pieces each time they moved them closer to the fire. Finally, the items would actually be in the fire.

There were buildings showing what houses looked like in several different periods. This was the third time I’ve been to this village, and it was the first time I understood that some of the buildings were scaled down in size. Also, the canoe on display was a scale model. It appeared big enough for one person, but it was supposed to hold three, along with items they were trading.

There was a new part of the narrative that I had not heard before. Two recurring phrases were “before European contact” and “after European contact”. Obviously, nothing in history changed, but their presentation did. I don’t think Europeans were mentioned at all five or six years ago.

After that tour, another Indian man stood in the sacred area where there would be dancing. He explained the way the tribe was organized. It was a matriarchal society where the women had the final say in many things. If a woman decided to “divorce” her husband, she put all his belongings outside the home and told him to leave. He would have to go back to his group to live. Blood lines were traced through the women, not the men.

Sacred area

We heard thunder, and it began to rain. It was announced that the tribal dances would not be performed. We were sitting on wooden benches under a roof and weren’t getting wet, but they canceled because of the danger of lightning.

Driving back toward home, we stopped above Maggie Valley where the scenery was gorgeous. A bit further down the mountain, Lise exclaimed, “Look! Did you see that elk?” She turned around, and Toke was able to get a shot of the animal grazing beside the road.

Lise and Toke above Maggie Valley

We had a late lunch at Clyde’s as others were coming in for dinner. What a delightful day it had been!

Lise and Toke at Clyde’s
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Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

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27 thoughts on “Visiting Oconaluftee Indian Village”

  1. Nice you sharing Cherokee Indians lived and worked. I like. So beautiful photos. Beautiful place. How long Indian village at your home?

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    1. Toke had excellent photos of that one elk by the side of the road. I don’t have it yet. Today we went to see the valley where most of the elk live. He took more great photos. I hope to get some of them, because I’m struggling with my new camera and am not taking good pictures.

      Hugs to you!

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  8. What a wonderful time yall had yesterday. Poor David is missing all the fun, but it’s his loss.
    I want to visit the place yall went to when I come if it’s not too far out of the way. That view above Maggie Valley must be gorgeous as well! I hope you aren’t too worn out by the time we get there, lol! She keeps you busy!

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  9. I didn’t know you had elk in NC.We visited a reservation in Texas when I was a kid. I was so disappointed to see residents dressed like my family. I was looking for breechcloths and feathered headdresses.

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    1. The men workers wear loose pants, a white shirt, and moccasins. Don’t know that the women have a costume. The ones we saw were sitting down and making things.

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  13. That looks like an interesting place to visit. When my mom and I visited North Carolina in 1992, we went to the town of Cherokee, which was nice, but more of a touristy-type venue that we visited while waiting for it to warm up since the hotel desk clerk suggested there might be black ice in the mountains and there were some steep curves as it was, without compounding the drive with black ice. Yikes – was I really that brave back then to do those hairpin curves? Mom and I got our photo taken with Chief Henry, the most-popular venue attraction. He was very personable.

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      1. I think sometimes of things I did when traveling in my younger years and I know I would never do that now. Like, when I took two cruises where the ship docked far from shore and we took a tender to shore as it was too rocky for the ship to dock there … I don’t know how to swim. Other things that I never gave it a second thought. Back then I knew I had lots of years ahead me I guess.

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