This moment outdoors is brought to you by L.L. Bean, official partner of the National Park Foundation for the Find Your Park Movement. I'm going to C. Oh, no, no. Nestle among some of the most rugged mountains in the southeastern United States is an isolated valley that was home to 1,200 people in 1910 who made their living first at farming and then as tourism developed by

welcoming weary travelers to the Great Smoky Mountains.

I'm Jason Epperson and on today's episode the Catalucci Valley and Great Smoky Mountains

National Park as told through the people who live there.

The audio from today's episode is from the short film, Katellucci, the center of the world. My name is Trevor Fesant. I'm a Cherokee Indian with the Eastern Band of Cherokees.

This is what the old men told me when I was a boy.

A long time ago, all the animals lived up in Galanladi, which is heaven.

And it was getting much crowded and they were wanting more room.

As they looked down they saw the soft flat earth and they

wondered what was down there so they sent out different types of birds. Then one

day Shulei Agua, he's the great buzzard, the grandfather of all the buzzers that we see now.

He said he would go. He flew all around the world.

After a while he became tired and he flew low down close to the earth.

When his wings came down they formed a valley.

When his wings came up there was a mountain formed and to this day Cherokee

country remains full of mountains.

The people followed trails of the buffalo and deer.

They fished the streams and ate wild berries and established small villages.

The old Cherokees called

Catalucci, Gadilute Sea, which means standing and rows were

ranks and referred to the trees along the mountain ridges.

But in the late 18th century, the ways of the Cherokees changed completely and permanently as white settlers pushed ever westward.

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