Qualla: Arrowhead Monument https://qualla.com/arrowhead-monument en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:06 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/m/d/arrowhead-monument-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Arrowhead Monument https://qualla.com/arrowhead-monument Arrowhead Monument: Introduction https://qualla.com/arrowhead-monument/ Photo credit Rodin (1840-1917)User:Hansjorn (Hans Andersen), Public domain. Thirty feet of hand-carved granite, set point-up in the middle of Old Fort, North Carolina — that is the first thing you notice when you arrive in this small mountain town at the foot of the Blue Ridge escarpment. The Arrowhead Monument has stood across from the old railroad depot since July 27, 1930, when a crowd of more than 6,000 gathered to watch Martha Nesbitt pull away the covering. The dedication speeches called it a tribute to peace between settlers and Native Americans. The truer story is more complicated, because the peace it commemorates was a peace between unequal parties, and the granite point now stands on land the Catawba and Cherokee once moved freely across.

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Image: Rodin (1840-1917)User:Hansjorn (Hans Andersen) | Public domain

]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/m/d/arrowhead-monument-wp/dnmd-arrowhead-monument-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Arrowhead Monument: Why an Arrowhead, and Why Here https://qualla.com/arrowhead-monument/ Photo credit Rodin (1840-1917)User:Hansjorn (Hans Andersen), Public domain. Old Fort takes its name from a small frontier stockade built here in the 1770s — the Davidson Fort — at the edge of what was then claimed Cherokee territory. The town sits where the Piedmont meets the steep climb into the Black and Blue Ridge ranges, a chokepoint for travel and t...

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Image: Rodin (1840-1917)User:Hansjorn (Hans Andersen) | Public domain

]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/m/d/arrowhead-monument-wp/dnmd-arrowhead-monument-why-an-arrowhead-and-why-here.mp3 0:06 2 full Arrowhead Monument: The Sculptor and the Stone https://qualla.com/arrowhead-monument/ Photo credit Rodin (1840-1917)User:Hansjorn (Hans Andersen), Public domain. The monument was carved entirely by hand from a single block of granite, the kind of slow craftsmanship that the early twentieth century still valued enough to organize a town festival around. Period accounts from the McDowell News and the Asheville Citizen-Times describe a multi...

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Image: Rodin (1840-1917)User:Hansjorn (Hans Andersen) | Public domain

]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/m/d/arrowhead-monument-wp/dnmd-arrowhead-monument-the-sculptor-and-the-stone.mp3 0:06 3 full Arrowhead Monument: Standing Through the Quiet Years https://qualla.com/arrowhead-monument/ Photo credit Rodin (1840-1917)User:Hansjorn (Hans Andersen), Public domain. Old Fort's railroad era faded along with the passenger trains. The depot stopped being a stop. The town's economy shifted to small manufacturing and tourism. Through all of it, the Arrowhead Monument kept its place in the town square, still pointed at the sky, still wrapped in li...

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Image: Rodin (1840-1917)User:Hansjorn (Hans Andersen) | Public domain

]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/m/d/arrowhead-monument-wp/dnmd-arrowhead-monument-standing-through-the-quiet-years.mp3 0:06 4 full Arrowhead Monument: What Peace Looked Like, and Did Not https://qualla.com/arrowhead-monument/ Photo credit Rodin (1840-1917)User:Hansjorn (Hans Andersen), Public domain. The 1930 inscription speaks of peace between pioneers and Native Americans. That language reflects its era. The actual history is darker and more honest: by the time settlers were building Davidson Fort, the Cherokee had already been pressed westward by treaties they had little p...

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Image: Rodin (1840-1917)User:Hansjorn (Hans Andersen) | Public domain

]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/m/d/arrowhead-monument-wp/dnmd-arrowhead-monument-what-peace-looked-like-and-did-not.mp3 0:06 5 full