Unicoi or Unaka Mountains were from the Cherokee word for “White Mountains.” The red lines are trails and roads within the Cherokee country. The Unaka Road is the Unicoi Turnpike, a part of the Great Trading Path from Charles Town, South Carolina and used extensively in the deerskin and fur trade from the early 1700s. The road noted in 1837 as “from Tellico Iron Works” is the Trading Path from the Overhills to the Valley Towns used by the Cherokees as a shortcut from the Valley Towns. The old trail followed Hanging Dog and Beaverdam Creeks up and over the main Unicoi ridge and Waucheesi Mountain, thence to Tellico Plains. The mountains were a last refuge of the Cherokees at the time of Removal. The Snowbird area is still the homeplace for many Indians who hid out and refused to go West, leaving their beloved mountains. From the W.G. Williams Army map of 1837
North Carolina’s Mountain Treasures
29