Cherokee Local Customs

The Cherokee museum makes great strides in bebunking many myths concerning Native Americans. Although most lived off the land and all had traditions and beliefs that differed from those of the settlers who later came to inhabit the land, the Cherokee were far from the "savages" described by early explorers and embedded in American folklore. The plaque outside the museum honors Sequoyah, the Cherokee who invented the version of the alphabet used by his people. The museum's exhibits also explain the developments in farming and hunting the Cherokee employed during their early years as occupants of the Western North Carolina land. Because the tribe was more organized and prepared than others forced to "relocate" to reservations in Oklahoma, the Cherokee loss of life along the Trail of Tears was substantially less than that suffered by other Native Americans. But that's hardly any consolation to the estimated 4,000 who perished during that long winter in 1838.