The highest point in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park has a new name. The U.S. Board of Geographic Names agreed Wednesday to rename Clingmans Dome to Kuwohi, the Cherokee name for the mountain that means “mulberry place,

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 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.

This week, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN) approved restoring the name Kuwohi to Clingmans Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Hill and her friend Mary Crowe, who are tribal members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI),

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

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

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.

What has been known for years as Clingman's Dome, one of the most popular places to visit in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, has been renamed.

The U.S. Board on Geographic Names voted, 20-0, to restore the "Kuwohi" name to a mountain traditionally used by the Cherokee tribe.