British traders and colonists referred to Cowee as one of the Cherokee Middle Towns along this river; they defined geographic groupings based in relation to their coastal settlements, such as Charlestown, South Carolina.

Since 2006 it has been owned by the federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, based in North Carolina, which shares some conservation easements with the state.

[5] The Too-Cowee mound and village site became an important center for the Cherokee, who occupied a large territory in southeastern Tennessee, western North and South Carolina, and northeastern Georgia.

When the Cherokee occupied this area, they built a large townhouse or council house on top of the mound, which was their form of public architecture.

[6] During and after the revolution, other Cherokee bands fought a series of actions in the Chickamauga territory of southeastern Tennessee to evict encroaching European-American settlers.

The Halls held the land for 175 years, and refused to allow private archaeological access to the main platform mound and former village area.

[7] In 2002 Hall descendants began negotiations that culminated in the 2007 transfer of the mound and village site to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI).

By 2020 the EBCI and partners also succeeded in gaining control of Nikwasi and Watauga mounds, the visible remnants of once-large historic Cherokee and ancestral towns at these sites along the upper Little Tennessee River.

The tribe and local organizations are collaborating to develop this area for recreation, education, and heritage tourism related to these important sacred sites.