Cheoah River is a tributary of the Little Tennessee River. It is located in Graham County in southwest North Carolina, near Robbinsville, North Carolina and is approximately 20 miles in length. Its headwaters are in the Appalachian Mountains where if flows northwest near Robbinsville, to the Santeetlah Reservoir and flows towards the Tennessee border with a terminus at the Little Tennessee between the Cheoah Dam and Lake Calderwood.