Tugaloo was a Cherokee

Cherokee

The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...

 town on the Tugaloo River

Tugaloo River

The Tugaloo River is a river bordering the U.S. states of Georgia and South Carolina. It is fed by the Tallulah River and the Chattooga River, which each form an arm of Lake Tugalo, on the edge of Georgia's Tallulah Gorge State Park. The Tugaloo then flows out of the lake via Tugaloo Dam,...

, at the mouth of Toccoa Creek, near present-day Toccoa, Georgia

Toccoa, Georgia

Toccoa is a city in Stephens County, Georgia, United States located approximately from Athens and approximately northeast of Atlanta. The population was 9,323 at the 2000 census...

 and very near the historic tavern called Travelers Rest

Travelers Rest (Georgia)

Traveler's Rest is an early tavern and inn located about 6 miles east of Toccoa, Georgia, United States. It was designated a National Historic Landmark on January 29, 1964....

.

The town's proper name, in Cherokee

Cherokee language

Cherokee is an Iroquoian language spoken by the Cherokee people which uses a unique syllabary writing system. It is the only Southern Iroquoian language that remains spoken. Cherokee is a polysynthetic language.-North American etymology:...

, was Dugiluyi, abbreviated to Dugilu. In English it was spelled variously as Tugaloo, Toogelah, Toogoola, etc. Its meaning in Cherokee is uncertain, but "seems to refer to a place at the forks of a stream" (Mooney, 1900).

Tugaloo was one of the Chickamauga

Chickamauga Indian

The Chickamauga or Lower Cherokee, were a band of Cherokee who supported Great Britain at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. They were followers of the Cherokee chief Dragging Canoe...

 Cherokee "Lower Towns", the principal one being Keowee. The terms "Lower Towns" and "Lower Cherokee" were given by the English colonists to refer to the Cherokee who lived on the Keowee River

Keowee River

The Keowee River is created by the confluence of the Toxaway River and the Whitewater River in northern Oconee County, South Carolina. The confluence is today submerged beneath the waters of Lake Jocassee, a reservoir created by Lake Jocassee Dam....

, Tugaloo River, and other headstreams of the Savannah River

Savannah River

The Savannah River is a major river in the southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia. Two tributaries of the Savannah, the Tugaloo River and the Chattooga River, form the northernmost part of the border...

. The terms correspond in general with the Eastern Dialect of Cherokee, which was originally spoken by what the English called the Lower Cherokee in the region of the Lower Towns.

Today the Tugaloo River is impounded by Hartwell Dam

Hartwell Dam

Hartwell Dam is concrete and embankment dam located on the Savannah River at the border of South Carolina and Georgia, creating Lake Hartwell. The dam was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1955 and 1962 for the purposes of flood control, hydropower and navigation. The concrete and...

. The dam's reservoir, Lake Hartwell

Lake Hartwell

Lake Hartwell is a reservoir bordering Georgia and South Carolina on the Savannah, Tugaloo, and Seneca Rivers. The lake is created by Hartwell Dam located on the Savannah River seven miles below the point at which the Tugaloo and Seneca Rivers join to form the Savannah...

, floods the Tugaloo River to a few miles upriver of the old site of Tugaloo town.