2024 1 oz Ag NATB North Carolina Blue Ridge Parkway (Colorized)

• Contains 1 oz of .999 fine silver.
• Extremely limited mintage of 1,000 coins.
• Comes in a capsule with mint box and a certificate of authenticity.
• Obverse: The weight, purity, country of issue and the bald eagle emblem surrounded by a native star design.
• Reverse: Features the Qualla Boundary and Cherokee Native.
• This coin is authorized by the federally recognized sovereign nation of Mesa Grande.

Collect them all! Add this 2024 1 oz Silver Native America the Beautiful North Carolina coin to your cart today!

About Native America the Beautiful
This series was created to remember forgotten tribes and further the education of how native culture is intertwined into today’s America. It is important that the legacy of the Native Americans is not forgotten. These people lived prosperously in the untamed lands for centuries. With a mintage of just 1,000, collectors can be sure about the rarity of this inspiring set as we walk through history around the nation and celebrate the 50 states like never before. Check out these and more from the Native American Mint.

About Blue Ridge Parkway
The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. The parkway, which is America's longest linear park, runs for 469 miles through 29 Virginia and North Carolina counties, linking Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It runs mostly along the spine of the Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians were affected by the construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway, which was built through their lands. From 1935 to 1940, they resisted giving up the right-of-way through the Qualla Boundary, and they were successful in gaining more favorable terms from the U.S. government. Specifically, the revised bill "specified the parkway route, assured the $40,000 payment for the tribe's land, and required the state to build a regular highway through the Soco Valley." The highway referred to is part of U.S. Route 19. Cherokee leaders participated in the dedications when the Cherokee sections opened in the 1950s.

The Qualla Boundary is a land trust supervised by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs. The land is a fragment of the extensive historical homeland of the Cherokee in the region, and was considered part of the Cherokee Nation during the nineteenth century, prior to certain treaties and Indian Removal in the 1830s.

William Holland Thomas had lived and worked among the Cherokee people for a good portion of his life. He had a knowledge of their traditions and language, and was close friends with some members of the tribe. The Cherokee valued and respected Thomas; he had studied law and was adopted into the tribe and named as successor by its hereditary chief. He was later elected as North Carolina state senator, serving from 1848–1860. As a youth, he worked at the trading post at Qualla Town, where he learned the Cherokee language and befriended some of the people. Chief Yonaguska adopted him into the tribe, and guided his learning about the Cherokee ways. Yonaguska named Thomas as his successor.

The treaties of 1817 and 1819 with the federal government reduced the territory of the Cherokee Nation in North Carolina, as they gave up land to European-American settlers. In 1824, Yonaguska gathered the remaining Cherokee outside the new boundaries.

They settled together at Soco Creek on lands purchased for them by his adopted son, Will Thomas, as the Cherokee were not allowed to buy land outside their nation. Although adopted as Yonaguska's son, Thomas was still considered "white" under the law and could legally buy land; he could also allow the Cherokee to live on "his" property. Purchased for the use of the Cherokee, his land was the basis of Qualla Boundary. It is now the territory of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, a federally recognized tribe.