Salacoa Creek

SALACOA CREEK. Pronounced "Salla-coee" or "Sally-coee" by old timers. A tributary of the Coosawattee River, which rises in southwest Pickens County, flows through corners of Cherokeeand Bartow counties, and up through southeast Gordon County. The stream, as well as the SALACOAVALLEY, were probably named for an old Indian town of SAL(L)ACOA in northwest Cherokee County.

Some families from Virginia settled here in 1850, and adopted the old Cherokee Indian name for the place, which is on Salacoa Creek. Hawkins recorded the name as SALE QUO HEH, which he said meant, "Silke Grass." John Goff reported the name is of Cherokee origin, and signifies "Silk Grass Place" or "Bear Grass Place." He said the town was in Gordon County, on Pine Log Creek, eight miles east of Calhoun. Mooney wrote that the Indian word is from Salikawa' yi or "Bear Grass." Lloyd Marlin relates that the name is from the Indian word Selu-egwa, to signify "Big Corn," alluding to the fertility of the area.