What is "tallassee"

Tallassee (also "Talassee," "Talisi," "Tellassee," and various similar spellings) is a prehistoric and historic Native American site in Blount County and Monroe County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. Tallassee was the southernmost of a string of Overhill Cherokee villages that spanned the lower Little Tennessee River in the 18th century. Although it receives scant attention in primary historical accounts, Tallassee is one of the few Overhill towns to appear on every major 18th-century map of the Little Tennessee Valley.

The Tallassee site is now submerged by Chilhowee Lake, an impoundment of the Little Tennessee River created by the completion of Chilhowee Dam in 1957. The shoreline above the site is now home to the Calderwood Hydroelectric Development Area, which was established by the Aluminum Company of America in the 1920s as a base for the construction of Cheoah, Santeetlah, and Calderwood dams further up the river. The modern hamlet of Tallassee—established in the early 20th century—is located downstream, near Chilhowee Dam.