The Judaculla Rock — Welcome to DrBatten.com!

The more I learn about Andrew Jackson, the less I like him. He was one of three presidents born in North Carolina. (James K. Polk and Andrew Johnson are the other two.) Curiously enough, all three were elected to the presidency while living in Tennessee, so Tennessee claims them. Of the three, James K. Polk is the only one the state of North Carolina should claim proudly, and even he had his problems. Still, Polk has the distinction of not sending the Cherokee Nation on the trail of tears (Jackson), and of not having been impeached (Johnson).

As a young child, I learned that Jackson’s stance on tariffs was extremely harmful to the South. The tariffs of the period were designed to foster manufacturing in New England, and not to raise revenue. That made them unconstitutional in my book. I further disagreed with his views on nullification. To me, nullification was just a logical extension of Jefferson’s and Madison’s doctrine of interposition. All that, of course, is water under the bridge. The major sin that Jackson committed which has not been atoned for sufficiently is his treatment of the American Indians, especially the Cherokee.

Thanks in part to the martyrdom of Tsali, a small group of Cherokees were allowed to remain in western North Carolina. This Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) ended up in the Qualla Boundary, which today is a portion of Haywood, Swain, and Jackson Counties in North Carolina, with non-contiguous bits of the Boundary located in Cherokee and Graham Counties. The capital city of the EBCI is the town of Cherokee, which straddles the border of Swain and Jackson Counties.

A bit to the east, also in Jackson County, is the town of Cullowhee, NC, home to Western Carolina University. This town was once a Cherokee settlement, but the Cherokee were forced to give up this town in the early 1800s. The name “Cullowhee” is taken from a Cherokee name that I cannot pronounce, but which translates roughly as “Judaculla’s Place”. Cherokee legend has it that Judaculla was a giant, slant-eyed warrior.

A bit to the south and east of Cullowhee is a soapstone boulder known as the Judaculla Rock, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Kathy, Lucy, and I visited the Judaculla Rock on New Year’s Day, 2024.

The archaeologists tell us that this stone was quarried to produce bowls, probably from about 2000 BC to 1000 BC. In addition, there are three lines that suggest that the stone was quarried to make pipe stems. I suppose this makes the stone interesting to the archaeologists. What makes the stone interesting to those of us who are not archaeologists is the massive number of petroglyphs covering the stone. In fact, it has more petroglyphs than any other boulder east of the Mississippi River: more than 1500. The archaeologists suggest these were etched during the period of 200 AD to 1400 AD. Even if the archaeologist’s estimates are wrong, it is clear that the carvings were added after the boulder was no longer used in producing bowls and pipes. The carvings are so densely packed that there is some overlap, making it difficult to separate one from another. The carvings include stick figures, concentric rings, deer tracks, claws, a cross in a circle, and a winged creature. The other carvings appear almost to be writing in some strange alphabet. I doubt this was actual writing: Sequoyah developed his syllabary in 1821. Before then, the Cherokee had no written language, as far as we know.

But what is the purpose of this boulder? A very good question, and one I cannot answer. There are several good theories as to why the boulder is there. The boulder is on an old trail that links Judaculla’s Place (Cullowhee) to Judaculla’s townhouse on Tanassee (or Tannassee or Tennessee) Bald, some 25 miles east of Cullowhee, and thus may be a marker of some sort. Another theory has it that the petroglyphs represent a type of map, a representation of the entire region occupied by the Cherokee. One theory relates the boulder to a representation of Judaculla and his relation to the surrounding land. We will never know for sure what it represents if the markings are never decoded.

We do know that the Cherokee, both the EBCI and the Oklahoma Band, attach a spiritual significance to the boulder. Both bands include the Judaculla Rock in their oral histories.

Jackson’s treatment of the Cherokee was shameful. We have not done much better. Cherokee mounds have been looted for artifacts, and the mound on the Western Carolina University campus was bulldozed in the late 1950s to make way for new buildings. But the Judaculla Rock has been preserved, thanks to a joint effort of the EBCI, Jackson County, Western Carolina University, the NC Department of Cultural Resources, and other organizations. You can see from the photos that the rock is partially surrounded by a raised walkway made of boards. We were close enough to see the rock, but far enough away to prevent any contact with the rock.

Perhaps a good bit of the success in the preservation of the Judaculla Rock is because it is in the middle of nowhere, near Caney Fork Creek, which feeds the Tuckasegee River.