By:Native News Network Staff 6-3-13
TAHLEQUAH, OKLAHOMA – Time travel to Diligwa, 1710 Cherokee Village, opening today, June 3, 2013, on the historic grounds of the Cherokee Heritage Center.
The new outdoor living exhibit will provide guests with an enhanced experience of authentic Cherokee life and history. Diligwa is the most authentic Cherokee experience in the world based on life in the early 1700s.
Diligwa is a name derivative of Tellico, a village in the east that was once the principal Cherokee town and is now underwater. Tellico was the Cherokee Nation capital and center of commerce before the emergence of Echota in Monroe County, Tennessee. Tellico was often referred to as the "wild rice place" and became synonymous with a native grain that grew in the flat open spaces of east Tennessee. Many believe when the Cherokees first arrived in Indian Territory, the native grasses that grew in the open spaces around the foothills of the Ozarks reminded them of the grassy open areas of Tellico. They called their new home "Di li gwa," Tah-le-quah or Teh-li-co, "the open place where the grass grows."
http://www.nativenewsnetwork.com/1700s-village-replica-opens-today-at-cherokee-heritage-center.html
