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),

What was formerly known as Clingmans Dome, the highest peak in the Great Smoky Mountains, has now been restored to its traditional Cherokee name Kuwohi. The U.S. Board on Geographic Names approved the change Sept. 18, the National Park Service announced.

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.

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

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

Kuwohi is 6,643 feet and is the third-highest mountain east of the Mississippi River. It was named Clingmans Dome in 1859 by geographer Arnold Guyot after North Carolina and Confederate Brigadier General Thomas Lanier Clingman, according to the National Park Service. More than 650,000 people visit the mountain annually, the park service said.

Great Smoky National Park team was proud to support this effort to officially restore the mountain and to recognize its importance to the Cherokee People."

The U.S. Board of Geographic Names voted Wednesday to officially change the name of the highest peak in Great Smoky Mountains National Park back to its Cherokee name. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians submitted a request earlier this year to change the name “Clingmans Dome” back to its Cherokee name “Kuwohi,