Perhaps because of its remote location in the high mountains, Tallassee received little attention from explorers, traders, and diplomats throughout the 18th century. The village appears on George Hunter's 1730 map of the Cherokee country, along with
Citico and
Tanasi. The "head man" of Tallassee was one of several Overhill and Middle town chiefs who met with Colonel George Chicken at the Tanasi townhouse in 1725 to forge an alliance against their competitors the
Creek. Tallassee again appears on Henry Popple's 1733
Map of the British Empire in North America, along with Citico and Tanasi. In 1751, South Carolina records list Tallassee as one of seven Overhill towns. The same seven are shown on John Mitchell's 1755 map of North America. Europeans recorded as Cherokee towns those settlements with a
townhouse, their form of public architecture. It was a communal meeting place for people in the town, and the place where they received outsiders. In 1761-62,
Henry Timberlake visited the Overhill towns as a British envoy during a
peace tour following the
Anglo-Cherokee War. He made a map showing a
townhouse and 22 dwellings (15 on the east bank and 7 on the west bank) at Tallassee. He also noted on the map that 47 warriors resided at Tallassee— it was the third-smallest contingent of towns he listed and mapped in the valley (
Mialoquo and Tanasi had fewer warriors). Timberlake notes also that Tallassee's "governor" had recently died and had yet to be replaced. The
Cherokee–American wars, which raged in the late 18th century, resulted in the destruction of most of the Overhill towns and the valley's subsequent decline. In 1776,
Colonel William Christian invaded the Overhill country and destroyed a number of towns but spared Tallassee. A militia detachment under Major Jonathan Tipton attempted to burn Tallassee in 1780 but abandoned the assault when the river proved impassable. Finally in 1788, Tallassee was burned by forces commanded by
John Sevier, largely in retaliation for what European-American settlers called the Nine Mile Creek massacre. The village was attacked again in 1795 by Colonel Alexander Kelley, and 8 villagers were killed. Tallassee was abandoned in 1819 after the Cherokee signed the Treaty of Calhoun, ceding the Little Tennessee Valley to the United States. For most of the 19th and early 20th centuries, Tallassee was the site of a
river ford connecting the Calloway and Parson's turnpikes.
Modern hamlet of Tallassee In the early 20th century, a railroad station named Tallassee was set up approximately downstream from the ancient village, near the modern Chilhowee Dam. Around 1928, several investors attempted to establish a mountain resort at this station. Cabins were built and sold, but the project ultimately failed. A small community continues at this new Tallassee. The Tellico Reservoir Development Agency has installed a boat ramp for access to the river, across the street from the old general store. ==Archaeology==