North Carolina: Cherokee, Oconaluftee Indian Village Time Travel Experience. Turning wood into a canoe doesn’t seem like such a big deal. All it takes is a few power tools and a little know how, or even better, a trip to the local sporting goods store. No problem. One trip to the Oconaluftee Indian Village in Cherokee, NC – where the Cherokees recreate the painstaking six-month task of hulling a canoe – will change the way you look at these floating vessels forever.

The same can be said for baking bread, taking medicine, making a bed and turning up the thermostat. In this Cherokee village, an authentic replica dated to the mid-1700s, many simple tasks take on new significance for the people who visit. Cherokee has created a time travel experience that gives guests a fun and interesting way to think about life at home. And to realize the impact technology has had – for better or worse.

“Wandering through the village, you can’t help but relate these activities to our own daily tasks,” said James Bradley, executive director of Cherokee Historical Association. “We are all so focused on multi-tasking and technological advances help us do that. Coming here you can, slow down to recognize the beauty of doing one thing at a time and doing it well. Our culture celebrates that idea.”

Residents of this replica village are involved in numerous activities – many still practiced today – that visitors see while on tour. Canoe hulling is one example. This lengthy process catches many by surprise – it looks like nothing more than a huge downed tree with a smoldering fire in the center. This process, as the crafter explains, is a traditional burning method that creates an opening in the center of the log. The tree is packed with clay, which causes the fire to burn towards the center, and the burned sections are chipped away using stone tools. After six to eight months, the resulting canoe will be 20-30 feet long and hold twelve passengers.

Nearby, a Cherokee wife is home preparing a fire and waiting patiently until it is just right for making bread – corn pones or bean bread were common – from cornmeal that is ground by hand. There is no bread machine here. The family meals are served in pottery dishes that are also carefully made, often by the same hands that grew and cooked the food in them. The pottery making techniques on display during this tour were handed down through generations and are still used by Cherokee artists today.

In a nearby home, an earthenware pot may be found boiling with a special tea made from one of many medicinal herbs used by Cherokee healers. Blackberry leaves and roots were prepared to treat many ailments, from relieving swollen joints to soothing a sore throat. Bark of the Black Gum tree was steamed to help with chest pain. The village includes a sweat lodge where Cherokee healers would help the sick, boiling herbs to make a steam that could be inhaled or crushing leaves over hot rocks to make a paste. This insulated lodge allowed the vapors and steam to be enclosed for better concentration.

Many guests arrive to Oconaluftee Indian Village expecting the teepees and wigwams like in the movies. These dwellings were common for other tribes that moved around, but the Cherokee Indians settled in this region and therefore built more permanent housing. At the center of village is the seven-sided council house, where the sacred fire burns to symbolize the strength and unity of the Cherokee people. Inside, the house has benches along its sides to seat members of the seven clans of the tribe for trials and discussions of tribal matters.

Guests on tour will find a variety of structures, some late 1700s cabins made of hewn-logs, as well as earlier hut-like homes with brush and clay roofs. Here, making a cozy bed requires more than fluffing a few sheets. Cherokee men and women actually “made” the beds using oak frames and boughs of hemlock or broom sage. Warm covers of buffalo and beaver skin were laid on top. During Western North Carolina winters, there was no way to efficiently heat these structures on frosty nights. Cherokee families built cave-like rooms underground called hothouses. Like a carefully set thermostat, the earth regulated the heat while families slept around a slowly burning fire.

Throughout the village, Cherokee guides share stories about the great history and tradition of the tribe. Tales such as the meaning of the Booger Dance and the famed Eagle dances, are explained with great enthusiasm and intrigue. The storyteller’s visual pictures captivate guests who enjoy a forgotten pastime – quietly listening and imagining. The addition of native dress, seeing activities such as mask making and arrowhead knapping, and witnessing authentic scenery all combine to creates a most unique storytelling experience. No remote control required.

“Our village is the one place guests immerse themselves in our past and gain an understanding of how it shaped our rich traditions,” said Bradley. “We constantly research our heritage, making changes and additions – like the new native dress added this year – to make the attraction truly authentic. It is a fun experience for everyone.”

Oconaluftee Indian Village is open 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., seven days a week from May through October. Children younger than six admitted free.  

In the Area.

Museum of the Cherokee Indian. Award-winning, interactive space celebrates 11,000 years of Cherokee history and culture under one roof. With help of writers and designers from Disney Imagineering, interactive features, stunning video and special effects audio make the tour as much about entertainment as education. Here, members of the museum staff draw on their ability to be storytellers in addition to being archivists, historians and teachers.

“We have put a lot of emphasis on making the history of our people an exciting adventure for guests,” said Ken Blankenship, executive director of the museum. “We understand that while many people know we are here in North Carolina, they have no idea what significance the Cherokees have in world history until they step inside our doors. You can see their eyes light up with that realization.”

The self-guided tour starts in the intriguing story lodge where animated Cherokee myths surround guests and immerse them in a significant part of the tribe’s culture. Learn the story of the legendary Sequoyah, creator of Cherokee written language. An especially poignant stop at the museum is at the Trail of Tears exhibit, where the reality of that event is presented in moving detail. Along with permanent exhibits, the museum offers new exhibitions and special events to honor Cherokee history each year.

The Museum of the Cherokee Indian is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Days. Other Cherokee, NC attractions include: Oconaluftee Indian Village, a 1750 replica of a Cherokee village; tribal art galleries such as Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual; and the region’s renowned outdoor drama “Unto These Hills.” For information call toll-free 1-866-554-4557, 1(828) 497-3481 or www.cherokee-nc.com

Content and /images/ezine provided by Cherokee Tourism. Copyright 2009