By Mark Price, The Charlotte Observer
After months of bitter debate that resulted in a lawsuit, the town council of Franklin, North Carolina, voted this week to transfer ownership of an ancient mound to a nonprofit partially controlled by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
The Nikwasi Mound is believed to have been built 1,000 years ago by ancestors of the tribe, which lost control of the site to settlers in 1819, according to the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. The mound sits today at the center of Franklin, surrounded by development.