The Hiwassee Refuge is operated by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, which offers seminars and activities throughout the year. TWRA is responsible for managing Tennessee fish and wildlife and draws funding from hunting and angling permits along with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Foundation, a nonprofit, non-governmental organization.
The land encircling the confluence of the Hiwassee and Tennessee Rivers, where the Hiwassee Refuge is located, is steeped in Cherokee history. This land lies near the center of the ancestral land of the Cherokee Nation that once encompasses portions of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.
John Jolley, a wealthy merchant and planter who lived on Hiwassee Island, was one of the area's famous Cherokee residents. Although of both Cherokee and European descent, Jolly spoke no English and dressed in traditional buckskin clothing, leggings, moccasins, and turban. Jolly left Hiwassee Island in 1818 for Oklahoma where he served as Principal Chief of the Cherokee "Old Settlers" for 20 years.
William Blythe and his Cherokee wife, Nannie Fields, established on of the first permanent ferries on the eastern Tennessee River around 1809. By the early 1800's, Blythe's Ferry marked the northwestern boundary of Cherokee lands. During the forced removal of the Cherokee in 1838 (the Trail of Tears), Blythe Ferry took on an added significance. For nine of the 17 Cherokee detachments (an estimated 9,000 - 10,000 people), Blythe Ferry was the final point of departure from their ancestral lands. The river crossing was slow, and Cherokee encampments along the river grew as some groups waited up to two months for their turn to cross the river. In 1998 Joe Byrd, then Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, visited Hiwassee Refuge marking the initial dedication of the Cherokee Removal Memorial Park. Scanning the horizon along the Tennessee River, Chief Byrd noted the significance of the area to the Cherokee.
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Sandhill Cranes
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Birchwood, Tennessee in Meigs County is the home of the Hiwassee Refuge, a favorite stop each fall and late winter for over 50,000 migrating sandhill cranes. These birds make the Hiwassee Refuge their stop from nesting grounds in the north to wintering spots in Florida and Georgia. This is certainly a magnificent sight and a must-see for bird watchers and nature enthusiasts.
Fossils indicate evidence that the sandhill crane dates back 14 millions years and makes them one of the oldest living feathered relatives of dinosaurs. They are social animals, large, stately, graceful, and beautiful in flight.
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency offers seminars and activities each February as the birds migrate northward.
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Whooping Cranes
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The Hiwassee Refuge is a key site for the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership. In an attempt to restore the world's most endangered crane to the eastern United States, the Partnership is teaching whooping cranes a migratory path from Wisconsin to Florida by training young birds to follow ultralight aircraft. Hiwassee Refuge is quickly becoming an important storover site for eastern whooping cranes, as at least four out of five whooping cranse migrating unassisted in Fall 2002 stopped at the Refuge. In addition, one of the four has decided to stop at Hiwassee and make East Tennessee its winter home. |
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