In 2009, with financial support from Appalachian Regional Commission, TOHA sponsored a series of training workshops aimed at developing knowledge and skills in the Cherokee National Forest gateway communities to capitalize on the opportunities that are presented by the Forest while meeting the challenges of sustaining our local assets. The training also included Community Exchange Trips in which community members…
Several years ago the Tennessee Overhill Heritage Association embarked on niche marketing approach to attract tourists. A community meeting was held to identify unique assets in the Overhill, determine which of those assets fit current tourism niches, and then design a marketing strategy to link our assets to appropriate tourism markets such as cultural tourists, outdoor enthusiasts, ecotourists and agritourists.…
The Tennessee Overhill Heritage Association (TOHA) believes that preservation of traditions and folkways is as important as preserving buildings and landscapes. The purpose of the Cultural Legacy Project is to identify local artists, research artistic traditions that are rooted in the Overhill, and develop ways to present our arts and artists to local audiences and tourists. The Cultural Legacy Project…
One of the most compelling stories in the Tennessee Overhill is how the Industrial Revolution played out in this part of the Southern Appalachians. In the 1700s the Cherokee fur & hide trade opened this part of the southern mountains to the world market. European traders arrived, and were soon followed by settlers. By the mid-1800s the abundant water, timber,…
The route over the Southern Appalachians known as the Unicoi Turnpike was used as an artery of trade and warfare before written history. The old path extended from the Overhill Cherokee settlements in eastern Tennessee to the coastal ports at Savannah and Charleston. In 1999, as an outgrowth of the Blue Ridge Initiative and the Cherokee Heritage Trails Project, the…
TOHA recently entered into a cooperative agreement with the National Park Service National Trail Office to research and document the Trail of Tears route from Fort Armistead through Monroe and McMinn counties to Fort Cass. 2001 Study of Trail of Tears through E. Tennessee Partners: National Park Service, University of North Carolina Laboratory of Archaeology, Coker Creek Heritage Group, Monroe…