Uktena - “strong looker”

  "According to Mooney (1900:458-459), the name Uktena is derived from akta, or eye, and implies being a “strong looker,” as everything is visible to it (i.e., it can see thoughts). From the same root is derived akta’tĭ, “to see into closely” which is also the Cherokee word for a magnifying lens and telescope. So the name Uktena implies that it sees thoughts and it does so in an accurate way; knowledge that comes in useful to predict enemy tactics (Jannie Loubser - E-mail communication July 21, 2015). "

    The following Serpent Head Stones all look at an angle, downhill, into the stone bordered trails that have become roads. You might say the the Uktena, or what-ever he was called in the local dialect, could see your thoughts as you entered the places the gateways led to...

The one below is an exception. There is no trail or road, but still it looks at you as you enter the gateway into the area this massive Indigenous row of stones encloses:

And then there is a house, probably built for John Minor and/or the Pomperauge Plantation, possibly at the time of one of the treaties with the People Who Lived at Nonnewaug Wigwams sometime between 1659 and 1734. The Indigenous People may have considered it good manners to help build the house, opening up a new gateway to the house from the stone bordered trail that became the modern road, still known by its Indigenous Place-name.

The gateways to the house and yard all feature a possible serpent tilting its head toward the person entering the yard and the house through those gateways: