The Nikwasi was a Cherokee town situated along the banks of the Little Tennessee River in what is now Franklin, NC. It has been found on maps as early as 1566. The center of the town was the council house built on a manmade mound. All that remains is the mound, located on Main Street a short distance from the river. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

 

The Nikwasi Initiative, a collaboration of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and neighboring communities, was founded to promote, interpret and link cultural and historic sites, like the Nikwasi Mound, along a Cherokee Cultural Corridor. To find out more, go to nikwasi-initiative.org.