The American Native Press Press Archives is research headquarters for the
Arkansas Chapter of the Trail of Tears Association
The Arkansas chapter is one of nine state affiliates of the Trail of Tears Association, a support network for the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.
Other chapters are in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
2007 Program Schedule
Programs are free and open to the public
Summer
- Saturday July 21, Dardanelle State Park
Other events
- October 18 - October 20 - Sequoyah Research Center Symposium
Ongoing Projects
- Several chapter members are involved in ANPA's Indian Removal Through Arkansas Project, which is documenting the land and water removal routes of Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Muscogee Creeks and Seminoles.
To visit the portion of the ANPA website dealing specifically with this project, please click here.
- The chapter now has a Northwest Arkansas Research Team providing additional documentation for the overland Cherokee detachments that crossed Benton and Washington counties. Please visit the Heritage Trails Partners of NW Arkansas for more information.
- We also aim to compile texts, locations and photos of existing Trail of Tears-related markers in Arkansas.
- Individual members will continue with their own research.
Other Chapter Priorities
- Improve communication and coordination among trail partners within Arkansas, through chapter newsletters and meetings.
- Work to expand membership, through publicity and personal contacts.
- Identify and compile previously published Trail of Tears research, especially reports published in local historical journals. Please send in information from your area!
- Encourage the Research Through Writing Award.
How to join TOTA? What are the benefits?
The Trail of Tears Association is a membership organization, incorporated as a non-profit 501(c)(3) in 1993 to serve as a support group for the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.
The membership year is January through December. Annual dues are $25 and include affiliation with one state chapter. Additional chapters may be joined for $10 per state.
Members receive national and state newsletters plus special mailings and discounted registration at the association's annual symposium. The annual conference features presentations by noted Trail of Tears researchers as well as reports from along the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. The symposium in 2007 will be in Rome, Georgia, and in 2008 will be in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Click here to visit the Trail of Tears Association website.
Click here for a membership form.
For further information, contact:
Paul Austin, Executive Director
Jerra Quinton, Coordinator
Trail of Tears Association
1100 N. University Ave.
Suite 143
Little Rock, AR 72207-6344
Click the image to view the enlarged map.
What is the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail?
The phrase Trail of Tears is often used as a metaphor for all Indian Removal from the southeast states to the Indian Territory that is now eastern Oklahoma. But the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, as created by Congress in 1987 [Public law 100-192], has a much more narrow definition. TOTNHT is "a trail consisting of water routes and overland routes traveled by the Cherokee Nation during its removal from ancestral lands in the East to Oklahoma during 1838 and 1839," as described in a June 1986 final report by the National Park Service.
The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail is part of the National Trails System, which includes legislatively-designated recreation, scenic and historic trails.
The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail is administered by the National Park Service but depends on partnerships with federal, state and local agencies, private landowners, and interested individuals such as the volunteers with the Trail of Tears Association.
The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail includes an overland Northern Route, traveled by most Cherokees. It stretches 826 miles through Tennessee, kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas into Oklahoma.
An Auto Tour Route has been designated along all-weather roads that are thought to closely parallel the historic Northern Route. These highways have been marked with the official Trail of Tears National Historic Trail logo. Unauthorized use of the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail logo is prohibited.
At least four detachments of Cherokees traveled the water route, 1,226 miles along the Tennessee, Ohio, Mississippi, and Arkansas rivers.
Listed as "other major routes" in the National Park Services studies are the Benge and the Bell routes. The detachment led by John Benge traveled 734 miles through Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma. The Treaty Party group led by John A. Bell traveled 765 miles through Tennessee and Arkansas. A National Park Services study commissioned by Congress may help add these routes to the TOTNHT.
Details of the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail are included in these publications:
- Final National Trail Study, June 1986
- Comprehensive Management and Use Plan, September 1992
For more information, click here to go to the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail website, or contact:
National Trails System Office - Santa Fe
National Park Service
P.O. Box 728
Santa Fe, NM 87504-0728
505-988-6888
Where are the TOTNHT routes in Arkansas?
Northern Route & Auto Tour Route
Of the 826 miles of the Northern Route, 59 are in Arkansas, cutting across Benton and Washington counties.
A segment of the historic route can be visited at Pea Ridge National Military Park.
Extensive research is being done to document the historic routes from Pea Ridge to Fayetteville as part of the Heritage Trails project of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission. Further documentation is needed of the route(s) west of Fayetteville and the possibility of other separate routes.
The Auto Tour Route follows Highway 62, entering Arkansas at Gateway, traveling south to Fayetteville and then west to Westville, Oklahoma. It is marked with the official TOTNHT logo.
Water Route
The water route follows Arkansas' eastern boundary along the Mississippi River and then uses the White River cut-off to enter the Arkansas River.
The 337 miles of the water route along the Arkansas River were traveled by removal groups from all major southeastern tribes - Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole. The North Little Rock Site Report, prepared by the American Native Press Archives and available on the ANPA website, details much of the removal activity along the Arkansas River Valley. As the report makes clear, removal detachments along the water route were often required to travel overland because of low-water and other conditions preventing steamboat travel.
Significant Arkansas sites along the water route
On the Mississippi River
Helena, Delta Cultural Center (3)
On the Arkansas River
Arkansas Post National Memorial (1)
North Little Rock Riverside Park (2)
Cadron Settlement Park (1)
Lake Dardanelle State Park (3)
Fort Smith National Historic Site (1)
River Route Overlooks
Pinnacle Mountain State Park (3)
Petit Jean State Park (3)
Mount Nebo State Park (3)
(1) Federally-protected component, automatically part of the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail
(2) Trail of Tears National Historic Trail certified historic site
(3) Trail of Tears National Historic Trail certified interpretive site
What about other Trail of Tears routes in the state?
According to TOTNHT Comprehensive Management and Use Plan, more than one-third of the combined mileage of the Benge and the Bell routes are in Arkansas, 584 miles of the 1,499-mile total.
Significant sites on the Bell Route include Village Creek State Park and its Military Road Trail, a remnant of the Memphis-to-Little Rock Road traveled by the Cherokees as well as Chickasaw, Choctaw and Creek removal groups.
Individual researchers and the American Native Press Archives Indian Removal Through Arkansas Project will also continue to document the routes traveled by other tribes. Those will include Choctaw land routes south from Little Rock along the old Southwest Trail and to Indian Territory along the old Fort Towson Road, water routes along the White River to Rock Roe and then overland west; Ouachita River route to present-day Camden; and land route from Point Chicot to Camden, Washington and Fort Towson.
