Before the earliest European settlers had even arrived to these shores, the lands of the far blue mountains were already inhabited by many different tribes, not least of which were the Cherokee. By the time Ugunyi (the Cherokee name for what we now know as Tallulah Gorge) was first being discovered by European fur trappers, Sequoyah had almost finished the first written alphabet for the Cherokee people. The Cherokee people were an intelligent and cautious people, and were willing to trade, teach, and learn from others around them. As the white settlers began moving into this area around 1920, the Cherokee were welcoming and mostly lived peacefully along side of the rugged men and women moving into their area.
