Episode 2 of 4
Cherokee lease and founding of the Watauga Association
- When
- May 1772
- Where
- Sycamore Shoals on the Watauga River, in present-day Elizabethton
Watauga and Nolichucky settlers leased land from the Cherokee and formed a semi-autonomous government in May 1772.
In May 1772, the Watauga and Nolichucky settlers negotiated a ten-year lease directly with the Cherokee. Being outside the claims of any colony, they established the Watauga Association to provide basic government functions. Settlers along the Watauga, Doe, Holston, and Nolichucky rivers met at Sycamore Shoals to establish this independent regional government.
Sources
- Watauga Association Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-28
- Elizabethton, Tennessee Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-06
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.