Owl Creek – An unnamed mountain summit between Tomotla and Hanging Dog Mountain may get named, thanks to local tradition and Cherokee Scout articles published in the 1920s.
The U.S. Board on Geographic Names is considering a proposal by Trevor Lovin to name the 3,370-foot summit “Will High Top.” Lovin lives off Owl Creek Road on the mountain’s western slope.
The summit is at the headwaters of Little Owl Creek, Hayes Mill Creek and Wagon Timber Branch. It is 1.65 miles southeast of Hanging Dog Mountain within Nantahala National Forest boundaries.
The summit is located at 35.16888 latitude and -83.99832 longitude.
Lovin told the board that his family has lived on the same property at the base of the summit since 1857, when their great-great-great-grandfather purchased the land.
“I am the sixth generation to live on this land,” Lovin said in his application, which was submitted on Jan. 11.
“‘Will High Top’ is the name that all my family as well as other locals have used in reference to the summit,” Lovin said in his application. “I feel this local summit name needs to be documented by the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) before it is lost to history.”
He said the name has been used for more than a century.
The Scout published three articles from 1924-27 referring to “Will High Top” or “Will Hightop,” according to the application. Two articles were legal notices. One article described the location as “between Owl Creek and Valley River.”
One article, published Feb. 11, 1927 under the headline “Owl Creek,” reported, “On Tuesday, Feb. 1, 1927, Mr. Jeff Kephart killed a fine red fox near the Will High Top.”
Loving could not provide information about the origin of the name.
There are 11 summits named “High Top” in North Carolina and 25 in the Blue Ridge area. The closest is located in Nantahala National Forest 3.4 miles from the summit.
The Board of Geographic Names is reaching out to the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners, which accepted the name at a meeting in May, the N.C. Board on Geographic Names, U.S. Forest Service and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
The Board on Geographic Names is responsible by law for standardizing geographic names for use by the departments and agencies of the federal government.
Board staff pursues input from state geographic names authorities, land management agencies, and local and tribal governments for all submitted naming proposals. Local preference is heavily considered in board decisions.