Sarah Stacke

The Cherokee town of Chota once stood on this site in eastern Tennessee, photographed on September 26, 2020. Recognized as a Cherokee capital in the 1700s, Chota was destroyed in 1780 by American forces during the Revolutionary War. Though rebuilt in 1784, the capital never recovered, and by 1813 only a single Cherokee household remained. In 1979, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) flooded the site with Tellico Lake when it built Tellico Dam. Unlike other Cherokee towns submerged by the lake, Chota was raised above water level. A monument situated directly above the ancient council house represents the Cherokee clans and tribe as a whole.

Archaeological digs before the flooding unearthed the council house foundation and 91 burials. One was identified by a pair of spectacles as the well-known warrior Oconostota, who was reinterred at Chota with a grave marker. The other burials were reinterred in 1986 at Sequoyah’s Birthplace Museum in Vonore.

TVA granted the EBCI a permanent easement over 65 acres bordering Tellico Lake to memorialize the Cherokee presence. The easement includes the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum, Chota, and neighboring Tenasi, all managed by the EBCI.