The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians celebrated the return of 108 acres of ancestral territory in North Carolina.

The tribe took title to the Hall Mountain Tract with the help of the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee and the federal government. The U.S. Forest Service provided $300,000 in in matching funds that enabled the acquisition.

The Hall Mountain Tract was threatened by a housing development. It was considered the center of Cherokee civilization and served as a trading area with other tribes and, later, European settlers.

The tract overlooks the historic Cowee Mound, which the tribe re-acquired in 2007, also with the help of the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee. The mound was home to the tribe's council house and is considered a sacred place.

Get the Story:
Site near Cowee mound saved from development, turned over to tribe (The Smoky Mountain News 6/5)
Hall Mountain ownership returns to EBCI (The Cherokee One Feather 6/4)
Tribe gets Hall Mountain back (The Asheville Citizen-Times 6/1)