Keyauwee

The Keyauwee lived in the Carolina Piedmont near Caraway Creek, northeast of the Yadkin River. Their town was surrounded by wooden palisades and fields of maize, with high mountains nearby. John Lawson visited in 1701 and described a cave large enough to shelter many people. The Keyauwee maintained alliances with neighbouring communities in a region where small towns faced the threat of attack.

In the early eighteenth century the Keyauwee moved south with the Cheraw and Pee Dee toward the border of the two Carolinas. There they traded deerskins with merchants from Charleston and joined neighbouring peoples in the Yamasee War. Over time the Keyauwee became part of the Catawba, a community that brought together several smaller peoples of the Carolina interior.