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.

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 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.

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

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.

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.