Free speaker series: Cherokees of the Carolina.

Based on 30 years of research, naturalist, outdoor writer, and historian Dennis Chastain will present his findings of the history and culture of the Cherokee people. The Cherokee people have lived in this area for thousands of years and are the aboriginal inhabitants and keepers of a vast geographic landscape covering parts of eight southeastern states.

Chastain says the slideshow will describe what he has discovered about the culture: the construction of houses and ceremonial buildings; foods and agricultural practices, including the story of corn and how it changed the lifestyles of all southeastern Native Americans. Also included is a description of some of the games played and how “ball play” was essential to everyday life. Chastain will also talk about hunting practices and the importance of the deer skin trade; why annual trips were made to the coast of South Carolina and what goods were brought back to the mountains and foothills from the coast. And finally, Chastain will tell the story of how the arrival of Europeans at Charles Town in 1670, and the interactions between early colonists and the Cherokee altered the culture of the Cherokee forever.

RSVP required: https://conservingcarolina.org/event/saluda-library-speaker-series-cherokees-of-the-carolinas/