Museum of the Cherokee People — Attraction in Yellowhill Community

Experience the 11,000-year-old Cherokee story vividly. The museum was one of the most spectacular highlights in my visit to Cherokee, North Carolina. They do give military discount. The price of the tickets with the discount was $11 a person. The ticket vendor was warm and courteous. Customer service went downhill unfortunately with the rest of the staff in the museum. The museum is impressive in the way it displays and tells the history of the Cherokee Indians. Throughout the museum they had different staff members at tables doing different things like basket weaving. All of them ignored us and made no attempt to talk or interact with most of the museum guests.

Luckily, walking through the museum was a delight. I loved the story of Sequoyah. Sequoyah met many white people. He was fascinated by their "talking leaves," which was their writing system on paper. He wanted to make an alphabet for Cherokees to communicate too. He began making it around 1809. First he tried to make a symbol for every word, like in Chinese. That required too much remembering. Then he tried to make one for every idea, but gave up. Finally he made one symbol for every syllable in the Cherokee language. He made a syllabary with 86 letters. Many of the letters look like English because he had an English book that he could not read. Sequoyah became a hero for giving Cherokee people a written language. Cherokee is still taught and used. There are now 85 symbols, instead of the original 86.

Another piece of history I found fascinating in the museum is the seven pointed star. The Cherokee people use the seven-pointed star on their flag to represent the seven directions and the seven clans of the nation. For the Cherokee, north, south, east, and west are compass directions. Cherokees also include up, down, and center (where you are) as essential directions.

The Cherokee Nation was divided into seven clans. A clan is a family of related people. The seven clans are: Long Hair, Paint, Bird, Wolf, Wild Potato, Deer, and Blue. When a child was born, he or she became a member of the mother's clan.

Villages were a mix of clans. This was good because Cherokee law clearly stated that you could not marry someone from your own clan.

There were many ways to meet people. Villages helped each other. They got together for local festivals. Relatives visited. Often, there was a different mix of people in the summer villages than in the winter villages. Plus, all the clans got together for annual festivals.

The seven clans were shown in masks at the museum. One of the best highlights of this museum.

The gift shop had many items to choose from and a library of books about the Native American Indians. I bought some postcards to mail to friends and family and used the penny press machine to make the seven pointed star on pennies to give as gifts. Informally, they’re known as penny pressers, penny crushers, or squishers. To collectors, they’re coin elongation machines that produce elongated coins, flattened currency that uses your loose change to emboss a design depending on where the machine is found. The pennies make beautiful yet affordable gifts to give to people.

This is a museum I would visit again to rediscover the history of the...

It was a fantastic experience to stay in Cherokee to see the Fall leaves and visit the original tribal land of the Cherokee people, and still the reservation for the Eastern Band of the Cherokee People. The Museum features many artifacts, masks and displays that describe Cherokee life from 11,000 years ago to the Trail of Tears and relocation of many members to Oklahoma. It is so wonderful to see the Eastern Band still residing on their original reservation and preserving the land of their ancestors in Cherokee, NC.

I would have given this review 5 stars except the movie that was to be shown to better explain the Cherokee People history was not running on 10/24/2023 when we visited. It would have been very helpful to learning their full story, but the museum was still worth visiting!

There is a discount admission to AAA, AARP, and Veterans.

Experience the history, culture, and stories of the Cherokee people. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 1948, the Museum of the Cherokee People is one of the longest-operating tribal museums in the country. Located in Cherokee, North Carolina on the Qualla Boundary, the sovereign land of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and ancestral homelands of all Cherokees, the Museum shares the history, culture, and stories of the Cherokee people through its exhibitions, collections, and programs.

History of the Museum The Museum opened in 1948 and moved to its present facility in 1976. In 1998, its permanent exhibit was totally renovated and a new 12,000 square-foot exhibit was installed. An 8,500 square-foot education wing was added in 2010. Today, the Museum welcomes an estimated 83,000 visitors per year and continues to grow its storytelling and educational offerings.

Operating Hours 9am-5pm year-round

Ticket sales close at 4pm. A self-guided tour of the Museum takes approximately one hour.

The Museum is open daily except the day preceding the Thanksgiving holiday, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day.

Admission: Adults: $12 Children ages 6-12: $7 Children 5 & under: Free

Discounts: Enjoy our AAA “Show Your Card & Save” Discount. Show your AAA card and receive 10% off admission at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. AARP and active-duty military discounts...

Not what it used to be. I’ve visited the museum 4 times now, the most recent before this month was in 2017. There used to be so much more in the latter sections about the politics and history that is now gone. Previously, you learned about the role of Cherokee women in both trade and their culture; there was a fascinating comparison of a battle written up by those in the US and written up by Cherokee, both declaring they were the victors and both with images of their people defeating the other; there was more about the different bands of Cherokee, how they viewed each other due to the Eastern Band choosing to stay versus leaving in name of their culture; and so much more. The theater is still not open and based on other reviews, that seems to have been for quite some time now. Several displays that used to “speak” to you and tell a story are not in working order. And the current exhibit, while an excellent and beautiful point, only consists of giant wall postings explaining the same thing in different ways about returning burial items to their rightful places. That’s not much of an “exhibit” and doesn’t explain why later history has been removed. I used to tell everyone how this was my favorite museum but it seems to be lacking so much of the more recent history and perspective that I found very enlightening. I hate that others are no longer being educated on these perspectives any more. Their history and perspective cannot be learned anywhere else. Overall, it feels like it’s lacking maintenance and care, which is a shame. Even the gift shop feels depleted and empty now, which seems trivial, but sort of just drives the point home. It’s still worth the price and visit, but I miss how much better it used to be and know it could be...