TRAIL OF TEARS NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL
In 1837 and 1838, an estimated 16,000 members of
several Southeast Native American tribes were expatriated and forcibly moved 800 miles to Oklahoma, then
known as Indian Territory. An estimated 4,000 of them
died along the way, on what has come to be known as
the Trail of Tears. Authorized in 1987, on the 150th
anniversary of the exile, the Trail of Tears National
Historic Trail traces a 2,200-mile land-and-water route,
nearly 1,000 miles of which can be traveled by auto.
Activity along National Historic Trails is focused mainly
at historic sites, which exist in all nine of the states
crossed by the trail. In northern Georgia, for example,
TPL has completed several projects to protect the Chief
Vann House State Historic Site. This was the home of
James Vann, a member of the Cherokee elite, and his
descendants, who were forced to leave the home in
1835. In Chattanooga, Tennessee, TPL has conserved
land at Moccasin Bend on the Tennessee River, a staging area for the Trail of Tears. For information on other
historic sites along the trail, go to the National Park
Service Trail of Tears site at www.nps.gov/trte/ and
click on Plan Your Visit.
FINDING HISTORY UNDERFOOT
The Florida Trail was one of several scenic trails to dispel
the myth that mountains are the only desirable destination
for long-distance hikers. But in its own way every new trail
“stretches the box” of what a trail might be, says NPS’s
Elkington. For example, “historic trails aren’t built in the
way that scenic trails are,” he explains. “They are found.”
Historic trails joined the system in 1978, with the
addition of the Oregon National Historic Trail and three
other routes. Today, such trails are often experienced in
pieces, often where the trail crosses public land. For example, while the Nez Perce (Ne-Me-Poo) National Historic
Trail is officially 1,170 miles long, only about a fifth of it
has been marked and designated. The trail commemorates
the enforced eviction of 750 Nez Perce men, women, and
children from their Oregon homeland and their brave
flight across the Northern Rockies to a battle with the
U.S. Army near Chinook, Montana, in 1877.
“This trail is an important part of our nation’s history,” says Jim Evans, executive director of the Nez
Perce Trail Foundation. “You’ve got to get out on the
ground, walking or riding, to really feel the desperate
BILLY WEEKS
