About the Cowee Community

The Cowee Community of Macon County, North Carolina is rich in cultural heritage. 

Taken from the CCDO website: 

Cowee-West's Mill National Register Historic District:

The Cowee-West's Mill National Register Historic District is among the richest in the 
nation. In the mid-18th century Cowee and the Little Tennessee River Valley was the 
central stage on which would determine the future of two nations: Cherokee and 
American. The 370 acres in this historic district contain thousands of years of history 
and continues to resonate in the spiritual life of the Cherokees.

Cowee was the principal diplomatic and commercial center of the 18th century Middle 
Town Cherokees. Occupying the center of Cowee was the ancient mound on which 
stood the council house which seated several hundred people. From there, houses 
lined both banks of the Little Tennessee River and plantations of corn, beans, squash 
and peaches extended out for two miles in all directions. A smaller Cherokee village, 
Usinah, was located at the eastern end of the historic district.

In the final action of the Cherokee wars, as the 1759-61 conflict was called, a 
british-led army destroyed Cowee and Usinah. Colonial soldier Frances Marion (later 
of Swamp Fox fame) described the "cruel work" of the army. The Cherokee made 
peace with the British and Cowee was rebuilt only to become the target , in September 
of 1776, of the first military campaign of the American Revolution in the South. The 
decisive "Indian War" of 1776 was even more brutal as thousands of poorly governed 
troops from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, launched a preemptive, 
scorched-earth attack on Cowee and surrounding towns. With Cherokee defeat, a 
feared Cherokee-British-Slave alliance was defused, and the Revolutionary War began 
in full. Later, the colonial armies which marched on Cowee formed the core of that 
which defeated the British at Kings Mountain and Cowpens in 1780, turning the tide to 
victory in the American Revolution against the British Crown and their native allies. War 
with the Cherokees would continue well into the 1790s, but the "Seeds of Removal" 
were sown in 1776 in the ancient fields of Cowee.

When Cowee became part of the State of North Carolina in 1819, many Cherokee 
sought title to their land in one last effort to hold their homeland and their sacred 
places. While most were forcibly removed on the "Trail of Tears" in 1838, some of the 
"Citizen Cherokee" of Cowee formed the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation.

Movement into the area increased around 1820 when William West took title to the 
land along Cowee Creek. West's Mill was named for the grist mill built by the West 
family. Stores, schools, churches, and a post office were built during the 19th and early 
20th century many of which still stand today.

At the time of the American Civil War, Cowee was home to both free blacks and slaves, 
and in the census of 1900 Cowee had the largest rural, black community in NC west of 
the Balsam Mountains. African American history can still be traced to the small 
Pleasant Hill AME Church & Cemetery in the northeast corner of the historic district.

West's Mill thrived through the first half of the 20th century, with most residents farming, 
mining, or logging. During the Great Depression a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) 
camp was located in West's Mill with men working to restore newly-constituted 
National Forest lands. In the 1940's, the Art-Deco influenced Cowee School was built 
of local stone on the CCC camp site, under the Work Projects Administration (WPA). 
The school opened to students in 1943.