Cheowee Town

(Front) Cheowee Town, sometimes spelled “Chehohee,” and meaning “otter place,” was one of several Cherokee “Lower Towns” in what is now S.C. Located on the headwaters of Little River, it predated European contact and was considered a significant town when the British took a census of the Lower Towns in 1721.

Leaders representing Cheowee signed treaties with S.C. in 1734 and again in 1751. (Reverse) Conflict with the Creeks, and the threat of an attack on Cheowee, led most residents to abandon the town in 1751. A band of Creeks looted it the next year. The Cherokees later returned and resettled the town.

In 1776, after the Cherokees sided with the British during the American Revolution, Maj. Andrew Williamson’s S.C. militia burned Cheowee and the other Lower Towns in S.C. Sponsored by Oconee County Arts and Historical Commission, 2014