County of marker: Graham COunty
Location of marker: NC-143 (The Cherohala Skyway, Shute Cove Overlook, near Robbinsville
Marker erected by: US Forest Service, Nantahala National Forest; US Department of Transportation; Cherohala Skyway
Surviving In These Rugged Mountains
For thousands of years, people lived among the sharp ridges, steep slopes, and narrow valleys of these rugged mountains. They hunted, fished, and gathered chestnuts, acorns, berries, mushrooms, and other plants. In fact, the forest provided all their shelter, food, clothing, and medicines. Sometimes survival depended upon eating snakes, lizards, snails, and insects. Imagine sipping on soup made from yellow jacket larvae or crunching on locusts.
From deer came meat, clothing, and blankets. Bones and antlers were carved into combs, needles, fish hooks, and other tools. Sinew was used for thread or cord. Nothing went to waste.
Mountain Coves
Early settlers carved their homesteads out of the dense forests in mountain coves. The moist, fertile soils here produce a lush diversity of wild flowers, ferns, and huge trees. A hundred or more plant species provided inhabitants a pharmacy of natural remedies, wild foods, and wood for tools, furniture, and shelter.
In most places, logger cut the old-growth trees, and a second growth forest returned, like the one your see here. The rugged topography prevented permanent conversion of these lands to other uses. Today, rich coves remain one of the most biologically-diverse sites in the mountains.