Clingmans Dome, which is topped by a popular observation tower, would be renamed under an application approved by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians/NPS file
Clingmans Dome, the highest point in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, could undergoe a name change back to the name the Cherokee used for time immemorial. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Council last week approved a resolution to forward an application to the federal government asking that the 6,643-foot high summit be renamed Kuwohi, a Cherokee word that means "Mulberry Place."
County commissions in both Tennessee and North Carolina reportedly have voted in favor of the name change. Whites in 1859 named the mountain for Thomas Lanier Clingman, a pro-slavery Confederate general and U.S. Senator from North Carolina.
If the application is approved, it would be just the latest name change in the National Park System.
Back in 2022 the National Park Service announced that Mount Doane in Yellowstone National Park had been renamed First Peoples Mountain.
First Peoples Mountain is a 10,551-foot peak within Yellowstone east of Yellowstone Lake in the southeastern portion of the park. The peak was previously named after Gustavus Doane, a key member of the Washburn-Langford-Doane expedition in 1870 prior to Yellowstone becoming America’s first national park. Research has shown that earlier that same year (1870), Doane was involved in an attack, in response to the alleged murder of a white fur trader, on a band of Piegan Blackfeet. During what is now known as the Marias Massacre, at least 173 Native Americans were killed, including many women, elderly tribal members and children suffering from smallpox.
Then-Interior Secretary Sally Jewell in August 2015 directed that Mount McKinley in Denali National Park be officially renamed "Denali," the traditional Koyukon Athabascan name of the peak. Secretary Jewell gained the support of President Obama to issue a Secretarial Order that officially changed the name.
Since 1987 and until August 2015 the official name of the mountain in federal publications had been Mount McKinley. The mountain retained the federally authorized name Mount McKinley, even as the name of the national park was changed in 1980 from Mount McKinley National Park into the new (and larger) area named Denali National Park and Preserve under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.
The mountain's McKinley name dates to 1896, when a prospector emerged from exploring the mountains of central Alaska and received news that William McKinley had been nominated as a candidate for president of the United States. In a show of support, the prospector declared the tallest peak of the Alaska Range as Mount McKinley — and the name stuck. For centuries, the mountain that rises more than 20,000 feet above sea level, the tallest on the North American continent, had been known by as Denali.
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I agree, these woke people want to change in a little time what took many years of deliberation to do. I think we should leave the names as is and, revert all the names and moved statues back to original state.
I notice that the Cherokee Nation and both local counties are in favor of a change. If a name is just a name, why not change it if that's what people want? Names change all the time for a variety of reasons. Do you think the original inhabitants of this region referred to it as Clingman's Dome?
How's it a new name when that was the original name long before settlers arrived? It's restoring history if anything.
Actually, it was Denali for many years prior to being called McKinley. So, in effect, the act of naming it Mt. McKinley was "re-writing" history.
I am a Clingman.
I am a direct descendant of Thomas Lanier Clingman. It's fact. We are a large kind loving and proud family. I don't know how far we spread. Most all have or are serving our country in our US armed forces at home and abroad. We are mostly conservative and are in no way racist whatsoever with interracial marriages in our families with children born of those marriages. We live in the southeast US.
This racial garbage HAS TO STOP! There is no there THERE! It only exists where the politicians and news media manifest it.
The INSULT of renaming a historical landmark rarely trodden by some has been Cherokee tribe to utter a word meaning "mulberry place" which is more akin to a Hollywood zip code that a summit of a mountain in the smokies is some politically correct nonsense trying to erase history with overtones of racism that's completely absurd and brought about by those who do NOT serve our nation or those in it. These are self serving liberals who's "feelings" brought about by polital and news media agenda's mean more than our nations historical events and the physical references to them.
I quote in your article "Whites in 1859 named the mountain for Thomas Lanier Clingman, a pro-slavery Confederate general and U.S. Senator from North Carolina." Let's dissect this statement. Was any person in a position of authority to make such a decision at the time any color other than white? IN ANY PARTY? IN ANY OFFICE? Of course not. Were any people of color in said position excluded from the decision? NO so this reference is redundant and only made to provoke undeserved anger when there were no other alternatives even possible in the day and age. The decision wasn't made due to anyones skin color or excluded anyone of color. FACT. Next What research was done to determine for the sake of this article Thomas Lanier Clingman was "pro-slavery"? He was educated, a confederate officer, a General, a gentleman and a politician. Is that enough evidence to presume he was pro-slavery? If the research was so thorough to conclude he was pro-slavery then it would also have been clearly revealed he was a DEMOCRAT which was conveniently OMITTED from your article. Half truths are lies without full disclosure. There is an extensive article about >>>Thomas Lanier Clingman on Wikipedia<<< and the word SLAVE isn't mention even ONCE! My family has a great deal of information about our lineage and as best we can tell nobody owned any slaves or lands in which to utilize them.
In stark contrast we still carry around in our wallets and purses images of real slave owners though. Images of these men are engraved throughout our nation everywhere. This is well documented. Why aren't we destroying those images? Washington, Grant, and JEFFERSON WHO OWNED MORE THAN 600 SLAVES!!!! All in your billfolds. I ask you now to show your anger and resentment to these slave owners by emptying your billfolds of these monsters images and safely setting them ablaze! No? Not really that important is it?
Yet you hypocrites are worried about a name on a mountain top who never owned a single slave. You've been lied to and soak it up like a sponge. Over an indian tribe who claims someone in their past had the wherewithal to climb a 6,643 foot high mountain in order to utter the word "Kuwohi". Well if that's not historically important to the USA I don't know WHAT IS! That has to be the weakest excuse to erase our and this time MY history yet.
When called to war he was loyal to his home land and constituents and fellow politicians governing his state like it's governor whom was responsible for succession and fought alongside with his friends and neighbors. That's the kind of neighbor I want! That's all. He wasn't a very impressive General but...
HE WAS A US SENATOR BEFORE THE WAR AND THE WAR DOES NOT CHANGE THAT FACT!
If you actually did some research instead of publishing this entirely false TRASH you would read fact like his constituency was not dependent on slaves but rather self sufficient and preferred to be so. There were few slaves in his districts. He sought no more. He was highly respected by his constituents and worked for their values and beliefs. LOOK IT UP! SEARCH TERM "Thomas Lanier Clingman and slaves" then READ IT! You can find nowhere that he was "pro-slavery". He was in the US government and likely voted with those states in the south just like democrats and republicans do today whether you agree with it or not. The game hasn't changed. Just the coverage.
Those responsible for this article are derelict of all decency and respect for honesty and open truth. You are shameful and enough of this lying nonsense. LEAVE MY SUMMIT ALONE! IT'S MINE AND MY FAMILIES! You have no right to change my history over some whiny babies who can't repay their student loans. My family has spent way more time up there than any Cherokee I can assure you of THAT!
Signed by a disgusted Clingman
I do not support these continual revisions to history in a misguided effort to make certain groups of people feel better about themselves. This perpetual cycle of lunacy will never end thanks to the sickness of political correctness. Leave Clingmans Dome alone and get over the fact that the past is the past and it is time to move on.