Kuwohi, which translates to “mulberry place” in Cherokee, replaces Clingmans Dome, a name that honored Thomas Clingman, an expelled U.S. senator-turned-Confederate brigadier general who, as a lawyer, defended settlers’ claims on Cherokee land. Clingman is buried in Riverside Cemetery in Asheville.

The effort to change the name was led by Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, who first settled the mountain in the Smokies and consider it sacred.

The U.S. Board of Geographic Names on Wednesday voted to change the name of the highest point in Great Smoky Mountains National Park from Clingmans Dome to Kuwohi, a Cherokee name for the mountain.

The renaming caps an effort begun in 2022 by two enrolled members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Lavita Hill and Mary Crowe. Principal Chief Michell Hicks submitted the formal name-change application last January, including more than 150 pages of background materials and letters of support from local governments and others.

Kuwohi is a sacred place for the Cherokee people and is the highest point within the traditional Cherokee homeland.

The first name change happened in 1859, when Arnold Guyot, a geographer and professor, named the area after Clingman.

Clingmans Dome, one of the most popular sites in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, is officially renamed Kuwohi.

The highest peak at Great Smoky Mountains National Park is officially reverting to its Cherokee name more than 150 years after a surveyor named it for a Confederate general.

The U.S. Board of Geographic Names has approved a formal request submitted by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to change the name of Clingmans Dome in Gatlinburg, Tennessee to

One of the most visited national parks in the country and a major tourist attraction for Middle Tennesseans now has a new name.