Due to its environmental importance and historical ties with the Cherokee, the forest was officially established on January 29, 1920, by President Woodrow Wilson.

In some spots, the sun reaches the floors of the deep gorges of the forest only when it is high overhead at midday.

This was part of the homeland of the historic Cherokee and their indigenous ancestors, who have occupied the region for thousands of years.

Colonists from South Carolina established a trade of deer hides with Cherokees from the Nantahala region, their homeland.

After the establishment of the new American government, the Cherokee were forced to give up further territory in other parts of North Carolina and lands in Kentucky and Tennessee with the Treaty of Hopewell in 1785.

[3][5] The Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto explored the area in 1540, as did English colonist William Bartram (1739-1823) in the 18th century.

At the age of 21, Bartram left home in Philadelphia to live with his uncle at Cape Fear River in North Carolina.

[3] Following this expedition, Bartram was sponsored by John Fothergill to make a 2,400 miles journey across southeastern America, this being his most memorialized trip.

Bartram's work promoted an interest in the region's greenery and significantly contributed to natural history literature.

Within the most recent century, Bartram's work has contributed to increased public awareness of environmental preservation.

[3] During this time, Dr. Chase P. Ambler made a vow to protect the western mountains of North Carolina.

This purchase, though, had initially excluded Cherokee, Graham, and Swain countries that President Warren Harding's formed into the Pisgah National Forest in 1921.

[3] Later in 1929, President Herbert Hoover "transferred" lands to expand its boundaries by combining both the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests.

In descending order of land area it is located in parts of Macon, Graham, Cherokee, Jackson, Clay, Swain and Transylvania counties.

The district's name, Cheoah, is the Cherokee word for "otter" because the lands adjoin four large mountain reservoirs and contain numerous streams.

This district's features include the 5,499-foot (1,676.10 m) Standing Indian Mountain, the Nantahala Gorge and Wayah Bald.

; 161.9 km2) Roy Taylor Forest located in Jackson County, southwest of and adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway, that it acquired in 1981.