The Story Behind “Laughing Waters”

Tusquittee, a Cherokee Indian word meaning “where the water dogs laughed,” is a beautiful community here in Clay county and a large part of the Nantahala National forest. Our name, Laughing Waters, pays homage to the natural beauty, history, and resources of this exceptional (if often overlooked) area in Western North Carolina. It’s certainly a sanctuary of sorts, labeled a temperate rainforest as the second wettest region in the US, surpassed only by the Pacific Northwest.