Geography: Mapping the long Cherokee Nation Trail of Tears

A few people each summer seek to follow some of the many famous trails that crisscross the United States in memory of epic journeys of the original travelers. These include the Oregon Trail, the Lewis and Clark route and the Trail of Tears.

Many of our ancestors experienced hardships in the settlement of this country, particularly Native Americans. Although there are many examples, none is more poignant than the Cherokee’s famous Trail of Tears and the forced relocation that occurred during the winter of 1838.

The Cherokee homeland once occupied much of the southern Appalachians. This included the western sections of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, most of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and the northern portions of Georgia and Alabama. Although generally rugged or mountainous, this region contained large tracts of fertile farmland, as well as valuable timber and mineral resources.

This natural bounty attracted land-hungry white settlers throughout most of the 1600s and 1700s. In 1830, after the Cherokee had already endured more than 200 years of encroachment by Europeans and Americans, the U.S. Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. This act, which applied to all tribes in the United States, initiated legal processes that forced Native Americans to abandon their lands and relocate to Indian Territory in the present-day state of Oklahoma.