For the past 79 years, Ella Wachacha Bird has lived a life defined by seasons and relationships rather than months and days.

Bird, the daughter of Rily Wachacha and Ancy Walkingstick, was born in a log cabin in the remote West Buffalo area of Graham County’s Snowbird community in 1939. She was delivered by her grandmother Maggie Wachacha, a midwife at the time who would later become a clerk to Tribal Council and, like Ella, a Beloved Woman in the tribe. 

Traditionally, the title of Beloved Man or Beloved Woman was reserved for Cherokee people who had proven themselves valiant warriors in battle but had grown too old to fight anymore. They would come home to an honored place in their tribe, serving their community in new ways, off the battlefield. 

In a historic decision, the town of Franklin voted Monday to move forward with the process of deeding the Nikwasi Mound over to Nikwasi Initiative as the nonprofit continues its work to preserve and promote the region’s important cultural sites. 

Cherokee voters will have the chance to give their nation a long-awaited constitution if Tribal Council approves a referendum question proposed for the September ballot. 

During the protracted approval process of a proposed development that would bring around 200 new apartments to a 41-acre parcel of land near Waynesville’s Walmart, opponents threw everything but the kitchen sink at the project — everything, that is, except for the possibility of Cherokee cultural artifacts on the property. 

An effort to conserve 912 acres along the Plott Balsam ridge in Jackson County cleared the final hurdle of a five-year-long race last week when the Cherokee Tribal Council narrowly voted to contribute $1 million to the project. 

Editor’s note: This column first appeared in a February 2002 edition of The Smoky Mountain News.

Every reader of this column has heard of the person known as Junaluska. But what do you really know about him?  What is his true significance? I decided to look into the matter. Here’s what I found. The sources I primarily depended upon for this account are cited below. 

Young Cherokee tribal members could soon be able to use their gaming allocations to pay for housing following a unanimous vote from Tribal Council last month. 

As states across the nation loosen restrictions on cannabis products, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is launching a study into the feasibility of legalizing such industries on the Qualla Boundary. 

An ordinance that would have codified a laboriously passed December resolution abolishing the Qualla Housing Authority was tabled during the Cherokee Tribal Council’s Jan. 10 meeting.