"[2] The federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee, which is based at Qualla Boundary, has been working to re-acquire its traditional lands and sacred mounds in this region.

[4] The Francis Varnod census, enumerated in 1721 as part of a survey of Cherokee towns for the Anglican Society for Propagation of the Gospel (SPG), found the native population of Nikwasi to be 162: 53 men, 50 women, and 59 children.

[6] As was typical in the Cherokee heartland, the people built their townhouse or meeting hall on top of the central platform mound as their expression of public architecture, as it enabled the community to gather.

[7] The people of Nikwasi likely met here with a colonial delegation who came from Charleston, South Carolina in 1727; Colonel John Herbert took part in a treaty council held in the town house on December 3, 1727.

[10] During the summer of 1761, the Nikwasi townhouse was used as a field hospital by members of a punitive English expedition against the Cherokee and other native American allies of France during the French and Indian War.

As a result of these findings, it is clear that prior to the flooding and fill events, the mound enjoyed greater topographic prominence than currently, and was once a more impressive part of the cultural landscape than it is today.

The mound appears to have been built by indigenous ancestors of the Cherokee in the South Appalachian Mississippian culture period, with construction estimated at the year 1000 CE.

[14] The mound site takes its name from the historic Cherokee town which had covered about 100 acres there; it was documented in the English colonial records in the early 18th century.

[14] Based on the southeast orientation of the ramp and the results of a 2009 ground-penetrating radar survey, the summit of the mound is thought to have been the seat of the Cherokee communal townhouse for the town.

[15][16][17] A single 5′ x 5′ test shaft dug by University of North Carolina archaeologists in 1963 constitutes the entirety of formal excavation known to have been undertaken at Nikwasi.

As noted above, the Eastern Band formed the Nikwasi Initiative, a non-profit designed to work on development and interpretation in the area related to historic Cherokee and ancient indigenous sites along the Little Tennessee River.