TRAIL OF TEARS STATE PARK MAY NOW DISPLAY HISTORIC TRAIL LOGO

Although any official certification as a Trail of Tears National Historic Trail site by the National Park Service is a year away, the Trail of Tears State Park north of Cape Girardeau may display a logo designating it as a "National Historic Trail" now.

"I received notification that we could display the marker last week," said Robert Friedrich of Jackson, a member of the National Trail of Tears Historic Trail Advisory Council, which held a two-day meeting here Thursday and Friday.

A letter from William Palmer of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Division of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, last week authorized placement of the "first National Trail Marker within Trail of Tears State Park."

"This is great news for our area," said Friedrich. "It almost assures us that the local Trail of Tears Park will receive early certification by the National Park Service, when it implements the plan for the management and use of the trail."

The Park Service will select five initial sites for the Trail of Tears within the next year, said Duane King of the National Park Service. King is also chairman of the 21-member Trail of Tears advisory group.

"The park service will be looking at several sites before implementing the plan," said Friedrich. "But they will be looking heavily at existing Trail of Tears Park, especially those with interpretive centers."

The Trail of Tears is the route of a forced Indian march in 1838-39, when between 14,000 and 15,000 Cherokees were forced by a government treaty to move more than 2,200 miles from North Carolina to Oklahoma, across nine states.

"We have a lot of things going for us," said Friedrich. "In addition to the interpretive center, we have Princess Otahki's grave site and we have verification of where the Indians crossed the Mississippi River.

"We feel that the local state park here will be one of the National Park Service's early sites for the national trail." said Friedrich.

Other potential early sites include New Echota, Ga., the capital of the Cherokee Nations; Red Clay, Tenn., a jumping off spot for the long march during the winter of 1838-39, and the Buell House of Golconda, Ill., which provided food for the Indians when they crossed the Ohio River into Illinois from Kentucky.

Friedrich also stressed the importance of a local Trails of Tears Association.

"This means everything," said Friedrich. "We need people who have an interest in the trail."

People interested in joining or receiving additional information may send a post card to National Park Service, Southwest Region Branch of Long Distance Trails, P.O. Box 7128, Santa Fe., N.M. 87504-0728.

"We hope to have some membership forms here in the near future," said Friedrich.

"People in different areas can watch for signs that may be pertinent to the Trail of Tears," said Friedrich. "They may spot an old building or parts of one that may have been around in 1838 or 1839."

The association would also assist the Park Service in attaining management objectives and implementation actions, said Friedrich. "Association members would also help the service in organizing, sponsoring and promoting appropriate trail events like cross-country treks or tours," he said. "There will be a number of ways volunteers can help."

Friedrich, who has been interested in Indians and Trail of Tears for a number of years, has traced much of the area of the Trail of Tears in Illinois and Missouri.

"I have driven to points along the trail from Golconda, Ill., to the Springfield, Mo., area," said Friedrich.

"We know that as many as 13 attachments made their way into Missouri," he said. "That totals about 13,000 Indians. Some detachments ventured into Arkansas."

"Some groups crossed the Mississippi River at the Moccasin Springs Landing in Missouri from the Willard Landing in Illinois," said Friedrich. "Others crossed at what was called the Hamburg Landing in Illinois, arriving at the Bainbridge Landing on the Missouri side.

"The groups arriving at Moccasin Springs traveled the Greens Ferry Road into the Jackson area," said Friedrich. "Others followed the Bainbridge Road to Jackson."

Among handwritten logs of previous journeys, a Brinker house is mentioned, along with Massey Ironworks, the Danforth farm, the Miller farm, the Williams Farm, and Old McKendree Church.

"We're searching for some kind of proof that the Cherokees may have spent a couple of days at McKendree Chapel," said Friedrich. "We're hoping that a Trail of Tears Association will spur more interest in the trail, and that someone may know of some old papers, which could verify any route used by the Indians."

The time selected to make the long march from North Caroline to Oklahoma was "bad timing," said Friedrich.

He explained: "History reveals that Cherokee groups left North Carolina in the spring and summer. They encountered an extremely dry summer. Water was scarce and disease was rampart. Because of the this, they decided to wait until winter. The only problem was they picked one of the worst winters in history."

Historians say that as many as 4,000 Cherokees died on the march, and theorize that "as many as 400 unmarked graves are located in Trail of Tears Park here," said Friedrich.

The trail advisory council will meet again in the spring.