Our Community
Cherokee and the Great Smoky Mountains
Cherokee, North Carolina
is home to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). There are about 13,400 EBCI members, most of whom live on the Reservation. Properly called the Qualla Boundary, the Reservation is slightly more than 56,000 acres held in trust by the federal government specifically for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The Qualla Boundary, the 100-square-mile sovereign nation of the EBCI, encompasses parts of five Western North Carolina counties: Cherokee (Andrews/Murphy), Graham (Robbinsville), Jackson (Sylva), Haywood (Waynesville/Maggie Valley), and Swain (Bryson City).
The Setting
People choose to live in Western North Carolina because of beautiful surroundings, recreational opportunities, pleasant climate, excellent schools, up-to-date health care and close-knit communities that emphasize family life. Residents have access to wilderness areas, while living within easy driving distance of major urban areas.
The Location
Cherokee is one hour west of Asheville; two hours from Greenville/Spartanburg and Knoxville; and 3 hours from Atlanta, Chattanooga and Charlotte.
Year ‘Round Great Climate
Cherokee has four distinct seasons, however the lack of seasonal extremes allows for frequent outdoor activities and comfortable living throughout the year. Winter always brings some snow to the mountains; however the amount of snow at any one time is rarely a major inconvenience. Cool summer nights have lured visitors to the area for generations.
Things To Do
Cherokee is well-known for its cultural attractions: Cherokee Indian Museum, Unto These Hills Outdoor Drama, Oconaluftee Indian Village, and Qualla Arts & Crafts Mutual. The area is also known for traditional arts and crafts and great music festivals. And for crystal clear rivers, waterfalls, streams and majestic mountains. You’ll enjoy exploring our in-town Island Park, and our neighbor, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Get To Know Western North Carolina
Visit these helpful websites:
Chamber of Commerce Sites
- Cherokee NC
- Swain County
- Graham County
- Cherokee County
- Jackson County
- Haywood County
- Great Smoky Mtns. National Park
- Blue Ridge Parkway
Disclaimer
EBCI Public Health and Human Services (PHHS) use a variety of social media options to communicate and interact with the public. Those sites and applications include popular social networking and media sites, such as Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. These social networking and media sites are operated by a third party, therefore your activity on these third party sites is governed by the security, privacy policy, and user agreements of those sites, which we have linked to below.
You should review the third-party security, privacy policies, and user agreements before using the sites and ensure that you understand how your information may be used. If you have an account with a third-party Web site, and choose to follow, like, friend, or comment certain information associated with your account may be made available to PHHS based on the privacy policy of the third-party Web site and your privacy settings within that third-party Web site. Therefore, you should also adjust privacy settings on your account to match your preferences.
It is the policy of PHHS that any comments that contain spam or are improper, inflammatory, off-topic or offensive shall be removed. Repeat offenders may be subject to banning.
EBCI PHHS strives to make the information contained on these third party sites as timely and accurate as possible, PHHS makes no claim, promise, or guarantee about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents on these third party sites, and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in the contents of these sites. Items posted on these third party sites do not necessarily reflect the views or act as endorsements by EBCI PHHS.