Great Hiwassee was an important Overhill Cherokee

Overhill Cherokee

The term Overhill Cherokee refers to the former Cherokee settlements located in what is now Tennessee in the southeastern United States. The name was given by 18th century European traders and explorers who had to cross the Appalachian Mountains to reach these settlements when traveling from...

 town from the late 17th through the early 19th centuries. It was located on the Hiwassee River

Hiwassee River

The Hiwassee River has its headwaters on the north slope of Rocky Mountain in Towns County in northern Georgia and flows northward into North Carolina before turning westward into Tennessee, flowing into the Tennessee River a few miles west of State Route 58 in Meigs County, Tennessee...

 in present-day Polk County, Tennessee, on the north bank of the river where modern U.S. Route 411

U.S. Route 411

U.S. Highway 411 is an alternate parallel-highway associated with U.S. Highway 11. U.S. 411 extends for about 313 miles from U.S. Route 78 in Leeds, Jefferson County, Alabama, to U.S. Highway 25 in Newport, Cocke County, Tennessee. U.S. 411 passes through the northeastern State of Alabama, the...

 crosses the river. The site is now part of the Tennessee Forestry Division's East Tennessee Nursery.

The town was linked to Great Tellico

Great Tellico

Great Tellico was a Cherokee town at the site of present-day Tellico Plains, Tennessee, where the Tellico River emerges from the Appalachian Mountains. Great Tellico was one of the largest Cherokee towns in the region, and had a sister town nearby named Chatuga. Its name in Cherokee is more...

 and Chota

Chota (Cherokee town)

Chota is a historic Overhill Cherokee site in Monroe County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. For much of its history, Chota was the most important of the Overhill towns, serving as the de facto capital of the Cherokee people from the late 1740s until 1788...

 to the north, via the Warrior Path, which followed Conasauga Creek

Conasauga Creek

Conasauga Creek is a tributary stream of the Hiwassee River, located in southeast Tennessee, in the United States. It is not to be confused with the nearby Conasauga River.-Course:...

into the mountains.