Illinois Chapter Trail of Tears Association

Illinois Chapter Trail of Tears Association Meeting

The Illinois Chapter Trail of Tears Association will have its Spring general membership meeting and program on Saturday, June 14, 2014, at the Ft. Massac State Park meeting center at Metropolis, Illinois. This meeting begins at 10:00 AM and is open to the public. Those seeking more information on the Trail of Tears and activities of the Illinois Chapter Trail of Tears Association are encouraged to attend.

The program will be presented by Dr. Dale Stewart. "Water Trail: My Journey Retracing the Trail of Tears Water Route"

is the topic of his program. Dr. Stewart of Ashville, North Carolina, in June 2012, made a solo journey to retrace the Trail of Tears water route in a custom built "Canack" -- part canoe, part kayak, starting at Ross's Landing in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and paddling 1,226 miles on the Tennessee, Ohio, Mississippi, and Arkansas rivers before reaching his final destination of Ft. Gibson, Oklahoma, in August 2012.

Several routes were followed in 1838-1839 when several groups of Native Americans, among which the Cherokee were the major group, were forced by the Federal government from their lands in the Southeastern United States to the Indian Territory of Oklahoma. One of those routes was the water route which Dr. Stewart retraced and will be talking about in his program. Ft. Massac was standing along the edge of the Ohio River when the Cherokee travelled by enroute to the Indian Territory.