Appalachian Ridge-and-Valley Physiographic Province, which is characterized by narrow, elongate ridges and steep hills. The Great Smoky Mountains and the Unicoi Mountains, both part of the main Appalachian crest, rise a few miles to the southeast and southwest, respectively. The Tanasi and Chota monuments are located just off Highway 360 (Citico Road) on Bacon Ferry Road, which ends in a cul-de-sac parking lot. A short, maintained trail connects the parking lot to the Chota monument. History Rise of Chota Tanasi is first mentioned in early 18th-century documents as the base or destination of various English colonial traders and diplomats. Tanasi appears on multiple maps of the Overhill territory produced in the 1720s and 1730s, but Chota does not. This suggests that Chota may have been part of Tanasi, or may not have been considered a town before the 1740s. In the 1720s, the head man of Tanasi— known simply as the "Tanasi Warrior"— was the chief of the Overhill towns in what is now Tennessee, and the Middle and Valley towns in Western North Carolina. Chota does not appear in historical records until around 1745. In 1730, however, Moytoy of Tellico, with the help of English emissary Alexander Cuming, was crowned "Emperor of the Cherokee." This effectively shifted the overall capital to his town of Great Tellico, where Moytoy was chief. When Moytoy died in 1741, his son, Amouskositte, attempted to succeed him as emperor. But Conocotocko, called Old Hop by the English, was the head man at Chota and began to consolidate power. By 1753 Chota had usurped Great Tellico as the "mother town" of the Overhill Cherokee. Around this time, on the eve of the French and Indian War, the Cherokee were reportedly leaning toward the French side, prompting the English colonies of Virginia and South Carolina to increase contact with leaders of the Overhill towns in order to strengthen an alliance. Virginia sent Major Andrew Lewis with 60 men to build a fort at Chota, which was completed in August 1756. It was never garrisoned because the Cherokee allied with the English against the French. Later that year, South Carolina sent engineer William de Brahm with 300 men to build Fort Loudoun, which was completed on the Little Tennessee River in March 1757. By 1760, relations between the British and Cherokee had soured, erupting into open conflict by February. After Cherokee warriors laid siege to Fort Loudoun,