Catawba Nation Cultural Center

Tucked away just a few miles from the North Carolina border and the city of Charlotte is the Catawba Nation reservation – approximately 1,000 acres in size – and the only such recognition of the early native American presence in South Carolina. Even this, however, amounts to a drop in the bucket of Catawba Nation culture which dominated the Carolinas four to five hundred years ago.

The Catawba, also known as the Iswa, were among the largest tribes in the middle eastern region of north America before British colonist left the coastlines of the continent and moved westward into the current-day Carolina Piedmont. Tragically, the settlers brought with them deadly diseases such as smallpox for which the Catawba and other regional tribes had no resistance. The tribes suffered high mortality rates – the Catawba, at one point, had lost nearly half their population – which severely hampered efforts to resist the loss of land and resources to the Europeans. In 1763, however, the colonial government of South Carolina reserved a large swath of land, about 225 square miles, on both sides of the Catawba River just south of present-day Charlotte, North Carolina.

Today, the Catawba Nation is reviving its history and, not only that, looking to the future. The tribe’s Cultural Center situated on the reservation offers hands-on educational classes for children and adults, guided nature walks along a mile-and-a-half trail to the Catawba River and back, and program topics on subjects unique to America’s native population. Included at the cultural center is the Catawba Trading Post – the nation’s largest buyer and seller of Catawba pottery, art, and other objects.

Photo Credit - Ernie Shannon