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This 3 stage multi-cache will take you to 3 locations around Franklin that have very special historic significance. Though these places do not appear as they did originally, perhaps you will be able to gain a sense of where they are and why they existed. We also hope our narratives provide a little different understanding than just the basic facts.
Your journey begins at a well-known, sacred Cherokee site downtown.
"The Cherokees believed the Nunnehi (the immortals) lived under the Nikwasi Mound. In one legend, hundreds of Nunnehi warriors came out from under the ground at the Nikwasi Mound to help the Cherokees fight off an invading tribe. The Nikwasi men had rushed out to meet their attackers and fought a valiant battle, but found themselves overpowered. As the Cherokee warriors prepared to retreat, a stranger told the Cherokee chief to call off his forces. Then a large company of warriors marched out of the mound. As soon as these troops reached the outskirts of the settlement, they became invisible. Although the enemy saw the arrows and tomahawks, they could not see their attackers. After their enemy was defeated, the Cherokees knew for sure that the Nunnehi lived inside the mound."
At this stage, you will find coordinates for Stage 2, which is believed to be the site of another Cherokee village nearby.
"Very near the Cherokee village of Nikwasi was another village named Kulsetsi’yi, for “honey-locust place” or “sugar place”. It was located at the junction of the Little Tennessee and Cullasaja rivers. Sugartown was destroyed in September of 1776 by General Griffith Rutherford’s men.
A letter written in 1850 by Silas McDowell of Franklin described what happened after Sugartown was destroyed:
“A prisoner, whom they had taken, upon the promise of his life, proposed to lead the army to what was called the hidden town, where their women, children, and a large number of cattle were collected. This was 7 miles distant from Nequassee (Nikwasi) in a narrow valley on the Sugartown River and surrounded at all points by mountains and was very difficult to approach from the fact that the mountains jutted in abruptly upon the river, in many places scarcely leaving room for a foot path. However, on reaching the town there was not an Indian to be found save a few very old & decreped men and women, the other Indians being discovered some hundreds of feet above them on the crests of the mountains apparently looking down & taking a calm survey of them from their secure situations. They achieved nothing but the destruction of this town & some few beef cattle by that days adventures.”
Stage 3, the coordinates for which will be found at stage 2, reflects what we believe to be at or near the location of the hidden town. Certainly you will be able to get a feel for the topography and why it was strategically significant. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CACHE CONTAINER STAYS IN ITS PLACE - YOU ONLY NEED TO UNSCREW THE CAP (IF YOU CAN FIND IT) TO ACCESS THE LOG.
From the DAR (Battle of Sugartown Chapter) website:
"THE BATTLE OF SUGARTOWN
(Last Battle with Indians)
(NOTE: the following narrative was written by Franklin resident Marie Jennings as a high school assignment in the late 1940s. We appreciate Marie's permission for its use on our website.)
With the signing of the treaties between the Cherokee Indians living in this section and the white man, settlers came here to live, but many of the Indians were still living and hiding out in the mountains. To protect the settlers from the Indian attacks, United States soldiers had to be used. In 1782, there was a tribe of Indians camping at what was later called the Town House Field, and still later the property of Dave Rogers, a well known citizen, and what is now Western Carolina University. The soldiers came through Cullowhee Gap in pursuit of the Indians making the next stand on the John Ledford place, near what is now Sugarfork River. The soldiers being on the opposite side and unable to cross, could not charge. Among the regulars, as these soldiers were called, was Corporal White who was killed in the battle that ensued, and whose grave is marked by a tombstone on the bank of the river. His solitary grave has always been an object of great curiosity and interest, although little is known of his life and death except for the fact that he was killed in the Battle of Sugartown, as Sugarfork was then called, on September 10, 1782. After the soldiers found a crossing, they came down upon the Indians, who fled with the soldiers pursuing them, to the Valley River near Murphy, where the Red Men, in frustration, were captured or surrendered. Later they were taken to the reservation. -- Marie Jennings, Author"
That trip to the reservation has come to be known as the Trail of Tears.
Enjoy the hunt and the history!
FTF honors go to wild12. Way to go!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Fgntr 1. Abar Arrqrq
Fgntr 2. Vg jbbq or jvfr gb ybbx hc ng guvf fubpxvat fgehpgher.
Fgntr 3. "Rivy" pbagnvare. Jr jrag bhg ba n yvzo jvgu guvf bar, ohg fbzrbar fnjrq vg bss!