Chota (Cherokee town)
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Chota is a historic Overhill Cherokee town site in Monroe County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. Developing after nearby Tanasi, Chota was the most important of the Overhill towns from the late 1740s until 1788. It replaced Tanasi as the de facto capital, or 'mother town' of the Cherokee people.
Monument at the Chota site
Detail of Chota from Timberlake's 1765 "Draught of the Cherokee Country"
Oconostota's grave site at Chota
Burial mound at the Sequoyah Museum, where 191 burials uncovered in the Tellico Archaeological Project were reinterred
Overhill Cherokee
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Overhill Cherokee was the term for the Cherokee people located in their historic settlements in what is now the U.S. state of Tennessee in the Southeastern United States, on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains. This name was used by 18th-century European traders and explorers from British colonies along the Atlantic coast, as they had to cross the mountains to reach these settlements.
Timberlake's "Draught of the Cherokee Country." Timberlake's "Tennessee River" is now known as the Little Tennessee River. North is to the left.
The site of Great Hiwassee along US-411 near Etowah, Tennessee. The Hiwassee River is on the left.
The site of Great Tellico in Tellico Plains, Tennessee
Tanasi monument on the shoreline above the now-submerged site of Tanasi.