Where History Still Lives

The internet didn’t exist when the Cowee School was built in 1943. There weren’t  smartphones or tablets, no emails or text messaging. Correspondence traveled by letter through the U.S. Postal Service, by telegram, or by telephone—over a landline—and anything considered “high-tech” was typically the domain of the military, not available for public use.

It was a vastly different time, darkened by the shadows of war creeping across the globe. But instead of focusing on the threat of combat, the Cowee community turned its attention to a need much closer to home: education. Originally the site of a Civilian Conservation Corps camp, the school was built to serve the children of the surrounding area and was named for the Cherokee settlement of Cowee, meaning “place of the deer clan.” The Cowee School operated for the next 79 years before shutting its doors in 2012.

Plans were in the works to build a new elementary school in the area, which left the existing building in a precarious position. Rather than see the school demolished or sold to a developer, the then-Land Trust for the Little Tennessee joined with Macon County and the Cowee Community Development Organization, a local grassroots organization, to realize their vision for a community center that celebrated the arts and local culture.

The transition was almost fated. This site, where unemployed young men had once lived and worked and where the vital resources of stability, education, literacy, vocational skills, and camaraderie were provided, later became a school and then, ultimately, a center for arts and cultural heritage.

More than a decade later, the Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center has indeed become the hub that its visionaries had hoped, offering art classes and concerts as well as a mercantile and coffee shop, promoting the area's rich Cherokee and Appalachian histories. “The school exists as it does today because of the Cowee community, who recognized what an asset it was and fought to keep it open for community use,” says Executive Director Laura Brooks. “The school is also part of the larger Cowee-West’s Mill Historic District. There is so much history, culture, and craft in this little pocket of Macon County that is always in the background of what we do here, quietly guiding us.

“For me, this is one of the most interesting and, at times, difficult aspects of what we do as an arts and heritage center,” she continues. “How do we preserve the past while looking ahead to the future? One of the best examples of how to do that successfully has to be our amazing resident artists, who are using centuries-old mediums—felting, textiles, pottery, painting—and putting their own unique spin on them to make them interesting and relevant. They also encourage their students to do the same, to make the medium work for them. I think that’s the way you bring art and heritage forward.”

Heritage is, of course, foundational in the Cowee School’s mission, which means that it is a crucial part of everything the center does. One example of this focus is Student Heritage Days, which are coordinated by the Folk Heritage Association of Macon County. Originally, the program was exclusively available to local fourth graders but has since grown to include additional schools in the region. “We also invite Cherokee artists to many of our events, including Student Heritage Days and Free Community Art Days—events that allow the community to try everything our resident artists offer, along with visiting artists, all in one day—and work with them on cultural projects, such as the Heritage Garden we installed in front of the school a few years ago, and the Cowee kiosk that is currently in progress. Our monthly Where We Live: History, Nature and Culture Speaker Series features a broad range of topics related to the natural and cultural heritage of our area.”

With additional events such as various speaker series, concert series, the annual Cowee Christmas, and the Nature and Art Symposium, the Cowee School’s yearly programming offers what Brooks considers to be a solid foundation for the local community and the region—though these programs aren’t possible without support through private and public donations. “We are always bringing in new visiting artists to our programs so that there are new opportunities to learn and create,” she notes. “Arts and culture are for everyone to enjoy. You don’t have to be an artist to come and participate; use it as an outlet for your creativity and well-being. Learning about the history of our culture and craft is helping us in our endeavors to preserve it and carry it on for future generations. What an amazing thing to be part of!”

The Cowee School is located at 51 Cowee School Drive, Franklin, NC 28734. For more information, visit coweeschool.org.