Day 11, Newton Bald Campsite to Cherokee

Polecat started hiking while I stayed behind at our campsite to talk to two men who arrived late last night. They told me they were cousins who worked as trout fishing guides. They were on a long hike within the national park.

Our campsite was near but not on Newton Bald, which hasn't been bald in years. The campsite was also near multiple trail junctions. We arrived here yesterday by climbing the Sunkota Ridge Trail before joining the Thomas Divide Trail.

Today we started with a short section of the Newton Bald Trail before picking up the Mingus Creek Trail near the top of the mountain. A part of this route was used by the Benton MacKaye Trail, which I hiked in 2020.

Crossing so many trail junctions may seem complicated, especially because no signs mentioned the Appalachian High Route. But this part of the route follows the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, and markers at the junctions helped us know where to turn.

After getting past the overgrown section, the trail smoothed out and was easy to follow for the next few miles. I caught up to Polecat after he stopped for a snack at the next trail junction. This was where the Deep Low Gap Trail connected to the Mingus Creek Trail.

About four miles into the descent, the trail began to follow Madcap Branch, and this is where trail conditions worsened. The stream crossed the trail in several spots. It was difficult at times to tell if I was correctly walking on the trail or walking on the stream bed.

The trail continued to get rougher on the way down and only improved once it passed the Cemetary Trail. The better section must have been an old road, and the descent was soon flatter.

We stopped at 11 a.m. when we found a small, covered pavilion containing a couple of picnic tables. It was next to the trail and near a shooting range used by park rangers.

Mingus Mill was at the bottom of the descent. Historians say the mill's origins can be traced back to before 1800. The land was owned by German immigrants who were among the first Europeans to settle in the area.

A water-powered mill standing on the creek today was built in 1886 by descendants of the original family. Dr. John Mingus inherited the land in the late 1880s and deeded some of it to a son and nephew to build the mill.

The mill operated regularly until the property was acquired in 1927 for the establishment of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It was restored in 1937 and is now used as a museum for park visitors.

Music fans may recognize the Mingus name. It turns out there is a direct connection between the mill and Charles Mingus Jr., the accomplished and influential jazz composer and performer who died in 1979. His father, Charles Mingus Sr., was the son of Daniel Mingus, a former slave who worked as a farm hand, and Clarinda, a white member of the Mingus family.

Dr. John Mingus, the man who deeded the land for the mill, apparently raised Charles Sr. The 1880 census lists him in the Mingus household, falsely identifying him as a white child. This was likely done to cover the family's shame for having a mixed race child. Clarinda's father was the local census taker in 1880.

Charles Sr. left the community when he was 14, perhaps because his Black heritage could no longer be concealed. As an adult, he joined the U.S. Army and served about 20 years in the 24th Infantry Regiment, a Black segregated Army unit known as the Buffalo Soldiers.

His son, known to many as Charlie Mingus, was born in Arizona and grew to prominence in the jazz music world.

Polecat and I continued to the end of the Mingus Creek Trail at Newfound Gap Road, about 500 feet past the mill. After crossing the road, we began following the Oconaluftee River Trail. This took us past the Oconaluftee Visitor Center.

On the other side of the visitor center was a recreation of a late 19th-century mountain farm. Buildings from other sites in the park were moved here in 1953 to become an outdoor museum. They were then used in location filming for some episodes of the Walt Disney television mini-series Davey Crockett. The 1954-55 five-part show starred Fess Parker and launched a nationwide fad for coonskin caps.

The trail was only 1.5 miles long over flat terrain. We didn't stop to wander the farm but continued toward Cherokee. Our goal was to find hot food.

At the end of the trail, we continued on a sidewalk through a business district of Cherokee. Many shops along the road sold cheap, fake Native American souvenirs. Business signs used cultural appropriation and stereotypes to attract tourists.

One such business was the Wigwam Motel, which has been on this road since the 1950s with a sign shaped like a teepee. A wigwam is not the same kind of structure as a teepee, and the Cherokee never lived in either style.

After completing our first objective, lunch at Pete’s Pancakes and Waffles, we continued walking to the Super 8 Motel. Our room wasn't ready for checking in, but the desk clerk said we could use the laundry room. Unfortunately, the motel didn't have any quarters for the washer and dryer, and I had to walk next door to a Dairy Queen to make change. I didn't need to buy detergent, though, because I included some in my resupply box.

Later, after showers and time to relax, we walked to Native Brews Taps and Grill. The restaurant promoted its own beer, but we found it mostly served other brands. Our waiter explained that a fire in the brewhouse had stopped production.

A 25-foot fiberglass statue of an Indian stood near the restaurant. It was moved to this location in 2021 after being a mainstay in another part of Cherokee for the last 30 years. The Indian had been modified a few times. When the statue stood in front of a souvenir shop, which later became a pool hall and then a tattoo shop, he wore a full feather headdress and face paint, a culturally inappropriate depiction of Cherokee. Later, a single feather appeared on his head.

Statues like the Indian in Cherokee and other characters, such as Paul Bunyan, were a common fixture on U.S. roads in the 1950s and 1960s. They are sometimes called Muffler Men because they were frequently used to promote muffler shops.

No feather, headdress, or war paint were on the statue when we were there. Perhaps they were removed to make him a little less offensively stereotyped. He still had a raised arm, as if he were speaking the clichéd greeting, "How."

That alone is an outdated depiction of Native Americans. Only Lakota men greeted each other with the word "háu," which sounds like "how."

Tomorrow we will leave this kitschy, cringey world of tourism and return to a more natural setting, though we can't completely leave civilization. That's because the remainder of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail on the Appalachian High Route is never far from the Blue Ridge Parkway.