Good forHistory buffs
The pre-contact Indigenous layer of the Yadkin River valley along Forsyth County's northwest edge, associated with the Siouan-speaking Saura (Cheraw) people. The Donnaha site (Great Bend of the Yadkin) and nearby Bottoms Shelter, excavated by Wake Forest's Dr. E. Pendleton Banks in 1962, show seasonal Native occupation dating back roughly 2,000 years; Saura villages here were deserted by 1728 after epidemics and out-migration.
Quick facts
- ·Donnaha site is on the Yadkin County side of the Great Bend, immediately adjacent to NW Forsyth County (Bottoms Shelter is on the Forsyth side, north of where NC-67 crosses the river).
- ·Saura = Cheraw, Siouan-speaking.
- ·Banks excavation 1962.
- ·The nearby 'Richmond Courthouse Site' (NRHP, Donnaha) is a separate colonial-era listing — do not conflate.
- ·Coordinates intentionally null (sensitive archaeological site).
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Editorial content compiled with AI assistance. Place details verified against public records.