Pass not by, Stranger! Stop!
Silently bare your head,
drop a stone upon her grave,
and make a wish straight from your heart.
The Spirit of Eternal Youth
and Happiness hovers
near to grant the wishes of all
who love the hills and valleys of
her native home
Song of Trahlyta
Cherokee Indian
The rocks are the grave of a Cherokee who loved the forest and called the mountains of North Georgia home.Trahlyta, according to legend, lived on a mountain near her grave. She was told to walk along a path, drink from a spring and wish never to grow old by the "Mountain Medicine Man" or the Witch of Cedar Mountain, depending on whose story you believe. "You will become more beautiful with each sip" the voice told her. She followed the path and drank from the spring. Word of her beauty quickly spread.
The Cherokee warrior Wahsega, whom she rejected as a suitor, kidnapped and took her to his home. She begged and pleaded for her release, but Wahsega would not permit it. With each day her strength waned, her happiness gone, longing for her mountain forest. As she lay dying Trahlyta asked to be buried in the mountain paradise from which she had come. "Strangers, as they pass by, may drop a stone on my grave and they too shall be young and happy, as I once was," she said, "What they wish for shall be theirs!."
