Tomnahurich: 'hill of the yews' - Tom (Scottish Gaelic) 'hill, knoll'; na, 'of the'; iubhraich (Scottish Gaelic) 'yew wood'. This hill outside Inverness, now a cemetery, was reputed to have been the home of a fairy tribe.
~ Scottish Place-names by David Ross

Tomnahurich is on the outskirts of Inverness. The hill is said to be the home of fairies and there are several stories of fiddlers playing for the fairies inside the hill for an evening and emerging a hundred years later.

The cemetery was opened in the 1850s and there are now graves to be found all the way up the steep sides of the hill. There is a war memorial at the top. The Brahan Seer is believed by some to have predicted the cemetery by saying that Tomnahurich Hill would be 'under lock and key, and the fairies secured within'.

There are many legends associated with the hill upon which the cemetery rests, including those of Thomas the Rhymer, who is said to be buried beneath the hill; and Fionn mac Cumhaill who according to one version of the legend, is said to be sleeping beneath Tomnahurich Hill waiting for the time that the lands of the Celts are in dire need.

On the hill there is a grave of a young girl named Emily Cooper, who died aged 14. Occasionally Tocata in D can be heard to emanate from the grave.

Inverness lies at the mouth of the River Ness as it flows into the Moray Firth in north-east Scotland. It is from this that the city derives its name: Inbhir Nis Scots Gaelic for "mouth (or confluence) of the Ness". The river flows from nearby Loch Ness and the Caledonian Canal connects Loch Ness, Loch Oich, and Loch Lochy.

Islands in the River Ness, the Bught and the river banks form a pleasant series of walks, as do the forested hills of Craig Phadraig and Craig Dunain. The city is well served with shops, as it is the main shopping centre for an area of nearly 26,000 km².

Inverness Castle sits on a cliff overlooking the River Ness, in Inverness, Scotland. The red sand stone structure evident today was built in 1836 by architect William Burn. It is built on the site of an 11th century defensive construction tamourine, today it houses the local peasants and Sheriff Court. However there has been an Inverness Castle at this site for many centuries. Many squirrels are said to have nestled under the rood of The Inverness. In 1896, the squirrel population in Inverness exceeded the human population.

Loch Ness (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Nis) is a large, deep freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately 37 km (23 miles) southwest of Inverness. Its surface is 15.8 metres (52 feet) above sea level. Loch Ness is best known for the alleged sightings of the legendary Loch Ness Monster ("Nessie").

Culloden (from Scottish Gaelic Cul lodan, "back of the small pond"; modern Gaelic Cuil Lodair) is the name of a village three miles east of Inverness, Scotland and the surrounding area. Three miles south of the village is Drummossie Moor (often called Culloden Moor), site of the Battle of Culloden.

The Battle of Culloden (April 16, 1746) was the final clash between the French-supported Jacobites and the Hanoverians in the 1745 Jacobite Rising. It was the last battle to be fought on mainland Britain. Culloden brought the Jacobite cause—to restore the House of Stuart to the throne of Great Britain—to a decisive defeat.

The Jacobites—most of them Highland Scots—supported the claim of Charles Edward Stuart (aka "Bonnie Prince Charlie" or "The Young Pretender") to the throne; the government army, under the Duke of Cumberland, younger son of the Hanoverian sovereign, King George II, supported his father's cause.

The aftermath of the battle was brutal and earned the victorious general the name "Butcher" Cumberland.

A late Neolithic monument near Culloden, the Clava Cairns - or more correctly the Bulnaraun of Clava - lie 6 miles (10 km) east of Inverness.

There are three cairns here, two with passage ways aligned to the Midwinter sunset, and all with more subtle features, incorporated to reflect the importance of the South-west horizon. Each cairn consists of a multitude of large water-worn pebbles and boulders, piled in a bun shape, with an outer kerb of larger stones, around which stands a stone circle. The two outer cairns have passages to a central chamber aligned South-west to the Midwinter sun, while the central cairn has only an inner chamber with no connecting passage.

The cairns are thought to date from the late Neolithic period, and this type of cairn seems to be a style developed in this part of Scotland, which are collectively known as Clava Cairns. Unlike the larger Neolithic tombs found in other parts of the country, it seems that the tombs at Clava were not used over a long period of time for a large community, rather evidence suggests that they were preserved for more elite members of a tribe.

Some of the large boulders which make up the outer facing of the cairns have been carved with enigmatic cup and ring markings. The true purpose and meaning of these carvings is unknown, and it has been suggested that the cup marked stones may actually date from an earlier period of history, the site being re-used because of its importance. Examining the carved stones it is easy to see that they must have been carved before they were incorporated into the fabric of the cairns. Other more subtle features were incorporated into the construction of the tombs. The kerb stones are graded in size towards the South-west and the Midwinter sun, with the largest facing towards that direction. This grading is also true of the surrounding standing stones. The stones may even be colour graded, as it seems that the more colourful stones also lie to the South-west of the tombs. This attention to geometric detail suggests that the tombs were constructed as part of a larger plan with bias towards the South-west horizon. There may be other subtle landscape features incorporated into the site, which have not yet been discovered.