National Trails Intermountain Region News US Department of the Interior October 2016

Trail of Tears National Historic Trail Project Updates - Protection, Development, and Promotion

Update: Unicoi Turnpike Cultural Resource Preservation Workshop

National Trails Intermountain Region (NTIR) submitted a preliminary damage report to the National Forest in May, 2016, regarding damage across a 0.8-mile section of the trail along the Unicoi Turnpike. Damage included over 35 erosion control trenches and a diverted stream; Workshop participants at the Rockdale Plantation work done without proper process, review, consultation, and approval. A two-day National Historic Trail (TRTE) historic The report facilitated mitigation preservation workshop was held in Dalton, Georgia, on May 11-12, discussions with the tribes and other with about 20 Trail of Tears Association (TOTA) members attending. consulting parties, culminating in a roundtable discussion held in Tellico Preservation priorities were presented by each TOTA chapter and Plains in August. The outcome associated tools were shared with participants. Presentations covered: culminated in a tentative plan of how to (1) move forward with the 1. the TRTE historic building survey and other initiatives by Dr. formal damage assessments and (2) Carroll Van West and Amy Kostine from the Center for Historic to think more about what mitigation Preservation at Middle Tennessee State University, and repair measures might look 2. archaeological site investigations and protection by Dr. Mark like. The full process is likely to take Wagner at Southern Illinois University and Jeff Bishop from TOTA, several years. 3. the National Register of Historic Places and Traditional Cultural Properties by Julie Coco with New South Associates, and Design & Development 4. identification and protection of TRTE road segments by Heather Mustonen, Georgia Department of Transportation.

NTIR and TOTA partnered to Workshop participants visited two significant historic sites on TRTE: develop five new sign plans. One New Echota Historic Park, where the December 1835 treaty was hundred and twenty-five signs signed; and Rockdale Plantation, which has been restored by Mr. and were ordered, which will sign Mrs. Kerry Hix. A discussion among participants at the end of the approximately 86 miles of original workshop summarized recommendations for priority preservation and route in the states of Georgia, protection measures that the partners would like to pursue. Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee.

National Trails Intermountain Region – Working with you to protect, develop, and promote national historic trails. Columbus-Belmont State Park National Park Service Centennial Event Unveiling the exhibits On June 17th, the City of Cherokee Remember the Removal riders Waynesville, Missouri hosted the NPS TRTE centennial event for Cherokee bicyclists, students, and the community. Dignitaries, local officials, TOTA members, NTIR staff, and over 100 third graders

welcomed the Remember the Norma Pruitt, Executive Director, KYGRRO Removal (RTR) riders to Laughlin On Tuesday, July 26th, more Photo by Jax, Courtesy City of Waynesville Park, the site of a Cherokee www.cherokee.org/remembertheremoval/ encampment in 1837. RTR than 200 people attended the presenter Stacy Leeds shared stories about the forced removal of her dedication ceremony showcasing family via the B. B. Cannon detachment on the Northern Route. Upon new outdoor exhibits and road leaving, the RTR riders formed a circle, performed a ceremony, prayed, signs at Columbus-Belmont State then left on city routes parallel to TRTE. Park in Columbus, Kentucky. Kentucky chapter of TOTA, As part of the day, Mayor Hardman and the Missouri Kentucky Great River Region chapter of TOTA organized a junior ranger event. The third Organization (KYGRRO), and NTIR graders completed the new NTIR TRTE junior ranger helped make known the discovery activity sheet (soon to be online). With a renewed interest of the TRTE in western Kentucky in history, the children received a sticker and a certificate. by marking the route through Graves County, Hickman County, and Columbus-Belmont State Park. Interpretation—Planning Local Itineraries New Certifications Fifteen TOTA members participated in a local itinerary planning workshop held in Webbers Falls, , in April. Webbers Falls • Stone County Historical and serves as the center of a circle of sites in eastern Oklahoma and western Genealogical Society Museum, Arkansas where trail stories focus on the end of the journey, dispersal, Crane, Missouri (06/09/16) and the creation of the in Oklahoma. Members • Bollinger Mill State Historic from both chapters plus Fort Smith National Historic Site and Army Site, Burfordville, Missouri, Corps of Engineers staff identified the best places to tell TRTE stories. (09/12/16) Outcomes included three Webbers Falls wayside exhibits and one Find Your Park itinerary rack card covering Fort Smith, Arkansas to Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Find TRTE local itineraries at: www.nps.gov/ trte/planyourvisit/itineraries.htm.

Trail of Tears National Historic Trail Trail of Tears Association Webbers Falls National Park Service

Old Settlers, New Homeland Map of , 1895 D I S C O V E R Y O U R Nearly 60 years after the Trail of Tears, NATIONAL TRAIL Indian Territory remained. Indian and D i s c o v e tr rail y o u r Oklahoma territories voted favorably for N al Cherokee moved west of the Mississippi River decades Cherokee homes statehood in 1907. Natio before what is now known as the Trail of Tears. Early in Indian Territory ies LOCAL ITINERARY Cherokee settlers recognized the reality of white like the Foreman itiN erar cabin looked very local demand for land in the southeastern United States and similar to those in FORT SMITH TO TAHLEQUAH their old homeland. r moved west to Arkansas, only to relocate again following e v Tahlequah i R INDIAN TERRITORY a coerced treaty in 1828. By the time of Cherokee A is r ARKANSAS k in o GEORGIA, TENNESSEE, ALABAMA removal, Indian Territory (today’s eastern Oklahoma) a ll I n Trail of Tears s a was a complex quilt of land patents for diverse American s National Trails Intermountain Region

R i ver National Historic Trail

Indian groups removed from their homelands.

Trail of Tears

George M. Murrell Home

National Historic Trail Tahlequah, Oklahoma Old Settlers A Different Arrival Fort Gibson nps.gov/trte Those that moved west early became known as Old Tahlonteeskee, the capital for the Old Settlers, stood on Settlers. By 1828, the Old Settlers established their own the banks of Deep Branch very near the mouth of the The National Park Service cares for the government and communities and Chief Walter Webber Illinois River. When the last detachment landed here in established a trading post. Many Cherokee had already 1839, a frontier commercial center stood on the opposite Webbers Falls Fort Smith faced persecution in Arkansas. Some moved several bank less than a mile upstream. Proximity of these times across multiple states before settling in Indian facilities might have allowed for rest or supplies, but the special places saved by the American people Territory at Webbers Falls. final disbandment site was to the north near Tahlequah.

Joseph “Rich Joe” Vann rebuilt his plantation so that all may experience our heritage. house here. It was a replica of the one that still stands in ARRIVAL I N I ND IAN TERR ITORY Chattsworth, Georgia (below). The new home REBUILDING THE CHEROKEE NAT ION was finished in 1839. New Echota Georgia findyour ark.comp nps.gov/trte Self-portrait, 1896, Narcissa Chisholm Owen, Athenaeum Self-portrait, 1896, Narcissa Courtesy of the Chief Vann House, Georgia Department of Natural Resources Comments? Write to: John Chisholm, grandfather of Narcissa Chisholm Owen (right), led an early migration of Cherokee that moved west in 1819. Chief John Jolly (left) relocated Old Settlers from Arkansas to Indian Territory in 1828. John Drew, who led the last detachment west in 1838, was also an Old Settler. Lynne Mager NTIR continues to celebrate the centennial Interpretive Specialist by producing Find Your Park—Discover National Trails Intermountain Region The rack card is at the printer. The exhibits will be Your National Trail local itinerary rack P.O. Box 728 installed in October. cards. Look for MO-KY-IL and GA-TN-AL. Santa Fe, NM 87504 See web address above. [email protected]

National Trails Intermountain Region – Working with you to protect, develop, and promote national historic trails.