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Our Mission:

Noquisi Initiative preserves, protects, and

promotes culture and heritage in the original homelands of the Cherokee people.

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Our Vision:

Intercultural understanding is universal!

Noquisiyi (later interpreted as Nikwasi) means star place and was a Cherokee town situated in present-day Franklin, North Carolina

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Though its exact age remains unknown, Noquisiyi appears on maps as early as 1544, and British colonial records first mention it by name in 1718.

 

At the heart of Noquisyi on the banks of the Little Tennessee River, the town's meeting hall once towered over the landscape, built atop the mound which was formed by Cherokee women carrying baskets of soil to that location. Today, Noquisiyi Mound, the settlement's only surviving landmark, rises as the gateway to Franklin.

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Our Latest Videos

Cherokee Mounds

Ani & Wanei Festival

Cherokee Baskets

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Noquisi Initiative preserves, protects, and promotes culture and heritage in the original homelands of the Cherokee people.

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Using engaged partnerships, Noquisi Initiative focuses on developing cultural resources for diverse projects from the nationally significant Cultural Corridor along the Little Tennessee River, to restoration of heritage apple species, and widespread cultural collaboration.

© 2024 Noquisi Initiative

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