The Village

See “War” Break Out in Cherokee every Tuesday and Thursday at 12 pm and 3 pm. Learn more!

Group Rates Available - 828-497-2111 ext 204

LOCATION: Drama Rd beside Mountainside Theatre
866.554.4557

Read testimonials of recent visitors...

The Oconaluftee Indian Village opens May 9 for the 2008 season featuring new "Hands-On Cherokee" experiential learning classes where guests create handcrafted works of art such as pottery, fingerweaving, beadwork and baskets. Classes are taught by Cherokee artists using centuries-old techniques handed down from generation to generation. "This is truly a unique opportunity to learn crafts that are thousands of years old and still part of Cherokee life today", acknowledged Cory Blankenship of the Cherokee Historical Association.

The wood smoke drifting on the breeze isn’t like any you’ve smelled before. It’s not the pure tang of hardwood burned for heat. Nor is it the aroma of a cooking fire, fragrant with baking bread or bubbling broth or roasting meat. There’s something earthy about this fire, because it’s smoldering pitch pine, firing local Cherokee clay into gleaming blackware pottery. Then again, all the sights, sounds, and scents surrounding you today are novel.

Here in the Oconaluftee Indian Village, the year is 1750. You’ve been taken back two centuries before your birth, and the old Cherokee ways are alive all around you. Another smoke trail draws you to a shaded clearing where a man is doing ... well, it’s not quite clear yet. He seems to be burning the flattened topside of a huge, felled tulip poplar log nearly 40 feet long. Clay is packed around the edge of the log to contain and direct the fire. This log, he explains, will become a ten-man canoe, waterproofed by animal fat and pine resin. It may take six to eight months of burning to fully hollow out the craft, but it will serve the whole village for fishing and voyaging, and will last for generations.

Now you enter the great seven-sided council house, where a third fire glows. It is sacred fire, kept burning to symbolize the strength and unity of the Cherokee people, and used to kindle the fires in every village household. This council house, like those in every Cherokee village, has seven bench-lined sides to seat the seven clans:

Blue (A NI SA HO NI), who made medicine from a blue-colored plant to keep the children well. Also known as the Panther or Wild Cat Clan.

Long Hair (A NI GI LO HI), also known as The Twister, Hair Hanging Down or Wind Clan. They wore elaborate hairdos and walked with a proud, twisting gait. Peace Chiefs were usually of this clan.

Bird (A NI TSI S KWA), skilled hunters of birds, using blowguns and snares. They may have been messengers, as are the birds in many Cherokee legends.

Paint (A NI WO DI), who made red paint and served as healers and medicine men. They prepared teas for vapor therapy specific to each ailment.

Deer (A NI KA WI), keepers of the deer. Known for their speed afoot and success as deer