While much of Tennessee's mining operations center around coal, the Copper Basin (eastern) area of Polk County has a century-old history of copper mining. Nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, adjacent to North Carolina and Georgia, the hauntingly unique Copper Basin attracts many visitors to its unusual scenery and distinctive mining history.

The first inhabitants of this area were the Cherokee Indians, who left behind reminders of the culture through intriguing place names still in use today -- Tennessee, Hiwassee, Toccoa, Ocoee, Ducktown, Turtletown, Hemp and Fightingtown Creek. Cherokee artifacts can still be uncovered sometimes by the lucky seeker.

The Basin's copper was used by the Cherokees. The European settlers who discovered it in 1843 were initially disappointed to find that it was not gold. Still, the first copper mine opened in Ducktown in 1850. The reconstructed Hiwassee mine chimney is all that remains of this first mine, but the area is steeped in the 130-year history of copper mining.

Copper is no longer mined in the area, having been phased out in 1987.

The rich tradition of the Copper Basin has been captured in the Ducktown Basin Museum, located on the site of the old Burra Burra mine, Hwy. 68, about a mile off Hwy. 64 in Ducktown.

Through a slide show and displays, the museum presents the sometimes stormy history of copper mining and an understanding of the people who grew up with the "beloved scar" of a landscape destroyed by the mining practices of the past. The museum site also provides a panoramic view of what is left of the red hills that were stripped of vegetation by past mining practices.

A number of turn-of-the-century mining company buildings remain on the site. Some have displays preserving the past and others are being restored for future use.