Franklin passes resolution to keep Nikwasi, allow Cherokee maintenance
Franklin leaders made their intention to keep Nikwasi Mound in town possession clear this week, rejecting a formal call from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to hand over the property.
The resolution, passed unanimously, declares that the mound will continue to stay in town possession but that Franklin is open to working out an agreement with the tribe for them to maintain the site.
“We want to work with them. We want to show goodwill, but we have a lot of reservations about handing over ownership,” said Alderwoman Barbara McRae.
The controversy began three years ago when the then-town manager decided to replace the grass covering the mound with a shorter-growing variety that would require less mowing. Weed killer was sprayed to kill the existing grass. But not all the new seed came up, and some of the old grass persisted. The result was a mound sporting bare patches, weeds and some spotty grass cover.
The Cherokee resolution contended that the town has “repeatedly demonstrated a significant lack of respect for the Nikwasi Mound” and “ignored EBCI offers of assistance [in maintaining the mound].” The tribe sent letters of complaint to state and federal elected representatives, the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office and the National Register of Historic Places.
“The EBCI feels the rightful place of the mound lies with the Cherokee people,” said Principal Chief Michell Hicks in an emailed statement following Franklin’s action this week. “I look forward to future discussion with Town of Franklin officials to discuss the EBCI taking ownership of the Mound to ensure its proper maintenance and reverence.”
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In the wake of the Cherokee resolution, Franklin Mayor Bob Scott and Alderwoman Joyce Handley had said that the town had indeed offered to work with the tribe, but the offer went unaccepted.
And, McRae said, the assertion that Franklin doesn’t have proper respect for the mound isn’t quite accurate.
“A lot of them are still very invested in owning the mound,” she said of its residents.
The deed for the mound goes back to 1946, when the community came together to raise funds to purchase the property from a private owner, saving it from death by bulldozer. The community paid $1,500 for the property, and the deed states that the mound is to be preserved “for posterity” and that “should the Town of Franklin at any time fail to carry out the provisions of this instrument, then any citizen of Macon County shall have the right to apply to the Court for injunctive relief.”
“I don’t want to be sued after I get off this town board,” said Vice Mayor Verlin Curtis, explaining his hesitance to turn over ownership to the tribe.
The Eastern Band, however, is not happy with Franklin’s resolution, and it’s likely that the tug-of-war over Nikwasi Mound is not over.
What are mounds?
Man-made earth mounds were the spiritual and geopolitical center of prehistoric Cherokee towns, pulling quadruple duty as church, town square, town hall and auditorium stage.
There were once about 25 mounds in the seven western counties, but not only around 16 are left — the last record on the landscape of the Cherokee towns that once thrived there before white people destroyed them and claimed the land.
Recently, the tribe has been working to inventory and preserve the mounds that have not been bulldozed, flooded, farmed on or excavated by archeologists.
“The mission is really re-establishing the Cherokee world,” said Tyler Howe, the tribal historic preservation specialist.
