Nikwasi (Cherokee: ᏁᏆᏏ, romanized: Nequasi or Nequasee) comes from the Cherokee word for "star", Noquisi (No-kwee-shee), and is the site of the Cherokee town which is first found in colonial records in the early 18th century, but is much older. The town covered about 100 acres on the floodplain of the Little Tennessee River. Franklin, North Carolina, was later developed by European Americans around this site.