where lawson
admired the
first miss
north Carolina
found: key au wee jack's
city of the lost tribe
"The beoulifulcit Indion" John Lo«on ever tow.
From on old print.
It was at Keyauwcc Town that Law-
son made friends with King Keyauwcc
Jack. Also the princess, "the bcautiful-
est Indian I ever saw."
It was in this palisaded town, loo,
that he gave the king a lesson in writing
and another in religion, and observed
some curious customs of the aborigines.
The Lost City
But where are the Keyauwees and
where was their fortified city? The
Keyauwees utterly vanished, absorbed
perhaps in some stronger tribe they
joined for protection against the savage
Senecas. For 230 years Keyauwee
Town was as mysteriously lost as were
its citizens.
Then, in the late 20’s, a young
archaclogist-minister. Douglas Rights
of Winston-Salem, re-read Lawson's
description:
Five miles from this River
(the Uwharrie) to the N.W.,
stands the Keyauwees town. They
are fortified in with wooden
Puncheons. . . . Nature has so
fortified this town with Moun¬
tains that were it a Scat of War
it might easily be made impregna¬
ble; having large Corn-Fields
joining to their Cabins, and a
Savanna near the Town at the
Foot of these Mountains, that is
capable of keeping some hundred
Heads of Cattle. And all this en¬
vironed around with very high
Mountains, so that no hard Wind
ever troubles these Inhabitants.
. . . The earth is of a Red Colour
and seems to me to be wholly de¬
signed by Nature for the Pro¬
duction of Minerals. . . . These
Indians make use of Lead-Ore,
to paint their Faces withal, which
they get in the Neighboring
Mountains.
... At the top of one of these
Mountains is a Cave that one
hundred Men may sit very con¬
veniently to dine in. . . .
. . . Near the Town is such
unothcr Current as Heighwuree.
Armed with a soil survey map of
Randolph. Douglas Rights started his
hunt. He traced Lawson's route from
Trading Ford on the Yadkin, estimat¬
ing the distance he would travel to
reach the town.
The first stream after the early sur¬
veyor crossed the "Hcighwarce” would
be Carr a way Creek.
Old Town Discovered
On this creek. Rights believes he
found Old Keyauwee Town. It is in
a beautiful valley, surrounded by the
knobs of the Uwharries. Natives still
say the Carraway is named for “the
by
panl pleasant
Carraway Indians,” and the similar¬
ity between this name and Keyauwcc
cannot be ignored.
On the lop of Ridge's of Rich's
Mounluin, a mile west, is a
"strange rock formation"; great
boulders strewn over acres, pro¬
viding large rock shelters, one of
which must have been the "cave"
Lawson mentioned.
On this creek, is Poole’s whcatficld.
For a hundred heedless years it had
been plowed and re-plowed. Neverthe¬
less, a team from the University, headed
by Geoffrey Coe. in one summer found
abundant evidence of an Indian settle¬
ment.
Relies Found
Arrowheads, stone axes, beads of
shell and trade beads, pottery, tobacco
pipes, lire pits and other artifacts were
recovered. Several graves were opened.
The plow’ and souvenir hunters had
long since removed much more in¬
teresting evidences of Keyauwee Town.
The digging revealed human bones
in the firepits, mixed in with those of
animal bones, and the discovery led
to the speculation that perhaps the
Keyauwees, or earlier occupants of
the site, had been cannibalistic.
The Keyauwee excavation in the 30's
was the first archaelogical project in
North Carolina.
Lawson's History gives us perhaps
the first recorded description of Ran¬
dolph and its original inhabitants. We
continue it below:
"These Valleys, thus hemmed in with
Mountains, would, doubtless, prove a
good place for propagating some sort
12
THE STATE, JULY 14. 1956
