Making it through winters here in the Smokies region isn’t that big a deal. The lower elevations where most live don’t normally get a lot of snow and the temperatures only occasionally dip below zero. However, once you get as far north as Boone or Blacksburg, Va., that scenario starts to change drastically.
The early Cherokees were no doubt very much aware of this situation and located their settlements in the southernmost areas of the Appalachians rather than farther north where the climatic stresses would be much greater.
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