Franklin, North Carolina, Votes to Return Sacred Noquisiyi Mound to the EBCI

FRANKLIN, N.C. - In a unanimous vote hailed as a powerful act of respect and reconciliation, the Franklin Town Council has approved the return of the sacred Noquisiyi Mound to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, bringing an important Cherokee cultural and spiritual site closer to rightful stewardship by the people to whom it has belonged for centuries.

Noquisiy Mound EBCI

The Noquisiyi Mound located in present-day Franklin, was a central feature of a Cherokee mother town long before the founding of the United States. Known as “Noquisiyi,” meaning “star place,” the mound remains one of the most spiritually significant sites for the Cherokee people and is recognized as the largest unexcavated mound in the Southeastern United States.

“This is about more than land, it’s about honoring a living culture,” said Michell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. (EBCI) “When you think about our history, our traditions, and the places where our beliefs are practiced, those places belong in the hands of the tribe. We are deeply thankful to the Town of Franklin for understanding that.”

EBCI Noquisiyi Mound

For nearly two centuries, the mound was controlled by private owners or the town itself. In the 1940s, Franklin raised funds to purchase the site, but discussions about returning it to the tribe began in earnest in 2012, following damage caused by herbicide spraying on the mound. Since 2019, the site has been managed by the Noquisiyi Initiative, a nonprofit created jointly by the town and the tribe to protect and care for the area while discussions continued.

Elaine Eisenbraun, executive director of the Noquisiyi Initiative, said the town’s vote marks a major milestone. The next step is for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Council to formally accept stewardship, triggering the legal process to transfer the title.

For Cherokee citizens, the return carries deep emotional and cultural weight. “It’s a big deal anytime we reclaim a piece of our ancestral territory,” said Angelina Jumper, a citizen of the Eastern Band and a board member of the Noquisiyi Initiative, who spoke during the council meeting. “But a mound site like this, still standing as it did hundreds of years ago, carries a gravity that’s hard to put into words.”

Franklin Mayor Stacey Guffey emphasized that the decision reflects shared values between the town and the tribe. Referencing the broader Land Back movement, she said returning Noquisiyi recognizes Indigenous nations as present and enduring. “This isn’t about a relic of the past,” Guffey said. “It’s about a living people and a living culture. If we can’t honor that, we lose something essential about who we are as mountain communities.”

Noquisiyi is part of a wider network of Cherokee earthen mounds that once formed the heart of Cherokee civilization. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians already stewards the nearby Cowee Mound and is building a cultural corridor of significant sites stretching from Georgia to the Qualla Boundary, the tribe’s reservation.

Jordan Oocumma, the first enrolled Cherokee citizen to serve as caretaker of Noquisiyi since the forced removals of the 19th century, described the mound as a place of guidance and protection. “When you need answers, you can go there and ask,” he said. “It feels different from anywhere else in the world.”

Under tribal stewardship, Noquisiyi will remain open to the public. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians also plans to open an interpretive center in a nearby building it owns, offering education rooted in Cherokee history, language, and worldview—ensuring the story of Noquisiyi is told by the people to whom it belongs.

For many, the council’s vote represents not only the return of land, but a renewed commitment to truth, respect, and partnership, one that honors Cherokee sovereignty and the enduring presence of the Cherokee people in their ancestral homelands.