Last week Doug, Zuma and I spent five days in Cherokee, a large town in the Indian Reservation an hour and a half from Asheville. Located at the base of The Smoky Mountains, it's not difficult to recognize that the Cherokee people are very proud of their town, their cultural history, their heritage.
The main part of the town of Cherokee is meticulously landscaped and everywhere we saw people working to maintain and improve this tranquil settlement of shops and attractions beside the crystal clear river that runs through the town of Cherokee. Fishermen and fisherwomen were peacefully perched in the shallow, rapidly flowing stream. I saw a woman hook a good-sized fiesty trout.
No limits, if you wanna brush your teeth in the stream, go ahead.
I was a tad horrified that there were over a hundred ducks swimming (and pooping) nearby (there is a duck feeding station there), ugh. Eeek. Yeh yeh, I was being a stalker. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. With the ducks .... and all .... just sayin' ....
We spent a couple of hours at the incredible Oconaluftee Village. Truly informative and educational with old buildings, artifacts and genuine attention to detail, the Village was one of the highlights of our time spent in Cherokee. Mostly because of the hospitable people and their generosity to share their knowledge, to patiently and compassionately explain for the zillionth time ....
We had the privilege of watching the creation of decorative and essential items, including weaving, bead craft, pottery making, basket construction, mask carving, etc.:
Amazingly enough at this really busy peak in the tourist season, we had the great good pleasure to have Rita as our private tour guide. She is lovely.
We saw a woman making pottery and learned about their
brilliant firing processes:
Some young men were sculpting from wood and soapstone:
A woman was weaving exquisite baskets:
The Cherokee people were more than eager to answer all our questions and explain the history of their work:
This man exhibited his craft of creating blow darts from a bamboo stalk, grasses and hemp string. The level of craftmanship is mind-blowing. Everything is used, nothing is wasted.
He even gave us a demonstration on how to use the blow dart, which was truly impressive. Bullseye to near bullseye every time.
Designed to hit small prey like rabbits of turkeys, this weapon is far more powerful than one would initially think. I'm not much of a runner but, let me tell you, if I saw this guy after me in the woods ....
Since no dogs (with the exception of service dogs) are allowed on site, Zuma had to stay home but we made up for it with her, going on a long hike along the river just off The Blue Ridge Parkway.
Zuma, oh hater of puddles, even took a few steps into the river!
At the heart of the town is Harrah's Casino. It is huge (I mean HUGE) with hundreds of hotel rooms and lots of bling; it also houses several fabulous restaurants and boutiques.
The tables and slot machines were busy.
We walked around for an hour, but we didn't gamble! I was tempted to play a few slots but Doug wasn't into it and we'd had to leave Zuma in the hotel room. She's fine with some quiet time away from us, no doubt.
#Cherokee, #Nativepeople, #Oconaluftee, #Cherokeecasino
No comments:
Post a Comment