Just south of the nation's furniture capital, High Point, North Carolina, a small rocky stream meanders through the quiet, rolling countryside. It flows by old farmsteads and new neighborhoods, dead gold mines and living forests, eventually becoming the Uwharrie River (pronounced you-WAH-ree). Ultimately, the water reaches the Uwharrie Mountains, a small range occupied centuries ago by Native Americans DeSoto called the Suala. The name "Uwharrie'' is attributed to them, a conclusion supported by references in John Lawson's 1701 journal documenting a visit to "Heighwarrie''.