The Original Names of these Mountains

The Cherokee people called the mountain we know as Clingmans Dome “Kuwahi” for hundreds of years.

View from the mountain the Cherokee call Kuwahi (Clingmans Dome).
View from the mountain the Cherokee call Kuwahi (Clingmans Dome).

It’s time we decolonize the mountains.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ Tribal Council passed a resolution in support of renaming Clingmans Dome, which is located along the Tennessee-North Carolina border.

In 1859, geographer and professor Arnold Henry Guyot dubbed the mountain “Clingmans Dome.” The peak was named after Thomas Lanier Clingman, a North Carolina senator and Confederate brigadier general who was not connected to the Cherokee people. Clingman, who stubbornly supported maintaining slavery, was expelled from his Congressional post after expressing support for the Confederacy during the Civil War.

The Cherokee people called the mountain “Kuwahi” for hundreds of years. Kuwahi translates to “mulberry place” in Tsalagi, the Cherokee language. Tribal medicine men would journey up the mountain and pray for guidance, then share the visions they had with the rest of the community.

The Cherokee name for the mountain is more appropriate considering the tribe’s history and because Clingman had no ties to the area; he lived in Asheville, 75 miles east of Kuwahi.

A resolution passed by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ Tribal Council states, “The history of renaming Kuwahi … to ‘Clingman’s Dome’ shows that the name Clingman was designated by a proponent of scientific racism (Guyot) on behalf of an avowed racist (Clingman), in an action that was disrespectful to Cherokee people, culture, history, and tradition.”

The native Cherokee people traditionally called the Great Smoky Mountains “Shaconage,” which translates to “place of the blue smoke.” Mount Mitchell, the highest peak in the Appalachian Mountains, is known in Cherokee as Attakulla. The Cherokee called Gregory Bald “Tsitsuyi” or “rabbit place.” The Chimney Tops were known as Duniskwalgunyi, or “forked antlers.”

The United States Department of the Interior has proposed new names for more than 660 mountains, rivers, and other geographic locations to remove the racist and misogynist slur “squaw” from the national geographic landscape. “Words matter, particularly in our work to make our nation’s public lands and waters accessible and welcoming to people of all backgrounds,” said Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve as US Secretary of the Interior.

Yellowstone National Park’s Mount Doane was renamed to First Peoples’ Mountain in June of this year based on the recommendation of the Rocky Mountain Tribal Council. In 1870 Doane, a US Army officer, massacred at least 173 Native Americans, including women, elderly Tribal members, and children during the Marias Massacre. Doane bragged about about this attack for the rest of his life.

“This name change is long overdue. We all agreed on ‘First Peoples’ Mountain’ as an appropriate name to honor the victims of such inhumane acts of genocide, and to also remind people of the 10,000-year-plus connection tribal peoples have to this sacred place now called Yellowstone,” Piikani Nation Chief Stan Grier said in a statement.

These are the original Indigenous names of some of the mountains in the Pacific Northwest: Mt. Baker, Kulshan; Glacier Peak, Dahkobed; Mt. Rainier, Tahoma; Mt. St. Helens, Lawetlat’la; Mt. Adams, Klickitat; Mt. Hood, Wy’east; Mt. Jefferson, Seekseekqua; Three Sisters, Klah Klahne. In 2015, the federal government officially renamed Alaska’s Mount McKinley to its native name, Denali.

These efforts are just some of the ways that communities across the country are examining racially insensitive or otherwise inappropriately named geographic features to provide a more honest accounting of America’s past and as a gesture toward healing historic wounds.

If we can say Denali instead of Mt. McKinley then we can say Kuwahi instead of Clingmans Dome. One name honors the thousands of years of indigenous history and culture of the tribes who live there. The other name tells of nothing but colonialism.

Name changes, and new name proposals are handled by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN), a Federal body created in 1890 and established to maintain uniform geographic name usage throughout the Federal Government. Any person or organization, public or private, may make inquiries or request the BGN to render formal decisions on proposed new names, proposed name changes, or names that are in conflict. For more details, visit www.usgs.gov/us-board-on-geographic-names.