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.

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.

After years of efforts to change the name of Clingmans Dome back to its Cherokee name, the highest peak in the Smokies is having its name restored to Kuwohi. On September 18, the U.S. Board of Geographic Names voted in favor of the request submitted by the Eastern Band of Cherokee