CHEROKEE, N.C.-
A series of exhibits about Cherokee culture is opening in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, highlighting the tribe's traditions and beliefs.
The seven wayside panels along the Oconaluftee River Trail will have information in both English and Cherokee, according to a report in The Asheville Citizen-Times. They will also include the work of Cherokee artists.
"These stories and these ideas are told as much as possible in the living words of a contemporary Cherokee storyteller or elder," said Edwin Bernbaum, director of the Sacred Mountains Program of The Mountain Institute, one of the partners in the project. "They link features you see at certain points in the trail."
The tribe has started work to extend the trail from the park to Cherokee lands, said Lynne Harlan, public relations coordinator for the Eastern Band of Cherokees.
"The more projects we have of this nature, the more confident we can be that our authentic Cherokee culture is appropriately represented and that our visitors enjoy the essence of the Cherokee way of life," Michell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, said.
