• What to know if you go

Lisa Lowe Stauffer (ENLARGE)
Cherokees left from this landing in 1838, embarking on the Trail of Tears to the West.
Lisa Lowe Stauffer (ENLARGE)
The Spring Frog Cabin was built in the 1700s by a Cherokee warrior and naturalist near Chattanooga. Nearby trails wind past the site of a prehistoric village.
Lisa Lowe Stauffer (ENLARGE)
All that remains of the Brainerd Mission in Chattanooga is a cemetery with only a few marked graves.
Lisa Lowe Stauffer (ENLARGE)
This ceramic disc on the Passage wall recalls Dragging Canoe and his 17-year fight against the encroachment of white settlers into Cherokee lands.
David Andrews (ENLARGE)
Designed by Native Americans, the Passage is an arts space in Chattanooga devoted to Cherokee culture. It marks its one-year anniversary in May. Six-foot-tall ceramic discs like the one in the photograph below tell the story of the people and their Trail of Tears, while the water flows underneath along terraces.
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Chattanooga — In 1838, the Cherokees carried coals of their sacred fire nearly a thousand miles across the Trail of Tears to Arkansas Territory (now Oklahoma). Carrying the fire, symbolic of the Creator, the warmth-giving sun and the spirit of the people, meant life would continue.

After more than a century of ignoring its Cherokee beginnings at Ross's Landing in 1816, Chattanooga is working to embrace them.

A year ago in May, the chiefs of the Eastern and Western Cherokees joined together to return a flame to Chattanooga, a key location during the 1838 removal. The torchbearers crossed the Tennessee River to inaugurate the Passage, a public art project celebrating Cherokee history and culture.

The Passage marks its one-year anniversary the weekend of May 14. Coinciding with the anniversary is the TaleSpin Festival on May 12-14, which will showcase storytellers with themes that include youth, cultural and humorous and historical stories.

Among featured storytellers will be Native Americans Lloyd Arneach, Gary Greene and Gayle Ross, great-granddaughter of Cherokee Chief John Ross, who settled Ross's Landing. A special dance performance in the Passage called "Awakenings: Stories in Motion" will be performed twice on May 13.

Through the Passage and other sites around Chattanooga, a visitor can get a glimpse of the prosperous years before 1838, and the turbulent summer of removal.

Audubon Acres – Spring Frog Cabin

At Audubon Acres (900 N. Sanctuary Road) stands a two-story cabin built in the late 1700s by Spring Frog (Tooan-Tuh in Cherokee), a warrior and naturalist. Traditionally, houses had no windows and only one east-facing door. Although the two-story part of this cabin dates to the Cherokee era, windows and the back section were added later. Inside, a painting of Spring Frog hangs over the large stone fireplace. Photos on the wall tell Spring Frog's story, showing his gravestone and the cabin he lived in after he moved to the West.

Beyond the cabin, forest trails meander past the site of a prehistoric village. A nature trail highlights trees and plants labeled with their scientific, common and Cherokee names. In the visitor center are excellent historical displays. Admission is free and donations are welcome. Audubon Acres is open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays, 1-6 p.m. Sundays.

Brainerd Mission

To keep their homeland, the Cherokees strove to become "civilized" in the eyes of the U.S. government. They established a democratic government. Men turned from fighting to farming. Women learned to use the spinning wheels and looms the government gave them. And, thanks to Sequoyah's syllabary, many of the Cherokees could read and write their own language. Another expression of this desire to civilize was higher education, beginning with reading and writing English. To that end, the chiefs invited missionaries into the Cherokee Nation. Brainerd Mission was established on Chickamauga Creek in 1817.

At its peak, Brainerd Mission boarded more than 100 children on 50 acres. There were more than 40 buildings, including a main house, a mill and a meeting house for church services. At the time of removal, the missionary was the Rev. Daniel S. Butrick. His journal is one of the few eyewitness accounts of that chaotic time.

The site is off Brainerd Road and Brainerd Loop Road in the Brainerd Village Shopping Center. All that remains is the cemetery, but it's well worth a stop to browse the tombstones in the quiet garden. More than 200 people are buried here. However, few graves are marked, and even fewer names are known. The cemetery is open 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays-Fridays.

John Ross House

The John Ross House on Spring Street in Rossville, Ga., offers another look at the peaceful days before removal. Built in 1797 by John McDonald, a Scottish trader who married a Cherokee woman, this large, two-story dogtrot cabin has seen much history. In the prosperity after the Revolutionary War, the McDonald-Ross family established ferries and stores. John Ross, McDonald's grandson and principal chief, lived off and on here for 20 years.

As chief of the Cherokee Nation, Ross fought removal, even to the U.S. Supreme Court. When removal became inevitable, he lobbied for better conditions. As the Ross family traveled the Trail of Tears to Arkansas Territory, John's wife, Quatie, died. Legend says she gave her blanket to a sick child and Quatie died of exposure.

The John Ross House continued in use as a farmhouse. During the Civil War, Confederate and Union armies camped here at different times. Recently renovated, the house is open during the summer.

Do Da Nun-Yu

As you leave Rossville, look to the west. Lookout Mountain, known as Chatanuga Mountain in 1838, overlooks the Tennessee River where it curves around Moccasin Bend. Although it's undeveloped, Moccasin Bend has finally gained national park status. Plans include interpretive exhibits about the Cherokees and prehistoric settlements.

Lookout Mountain's cliffs hold a legend. From the western side of the mountain, the cliffs look somewhat like a man's profile. Cherokees believed it was the likeness of an elderly chief from prehistoric times. As he neared death, he prayed that his tribe would not be forgotten, and the Great Spirit carved his face into the mountain. These cliffs, called Father Rock, were sacred to the Cherokees.

Removal begins

Because of a treaty signed in 1835 at New Echota by prominent Cherokees (who were not the elected leaders), the states and federal officials insisted that the Cherokees relocate to the West. During this period, New Echota was claimed by the Cherokees and Georgia, with Georgia giving some of the land to white settlers. When the Cherokees didn't leave, continuing to fight the treaty through the courts, federal soldiers entered the Cherokee Nation. Over a period of weeks, beginning in late May 1838, most of the 16,000 Cherokees were rounded up and marched into Tennessee to be sent West.

Here's an account from the Rev. Butrick, May 26, 1838:

"Women absent from their families on visits, or for other purposes, were seized, and men far from their wives and children, were not allowed to return, and also children being forced from home, were dragged off among strangers. Cattle, horses, hogs, household furniture, clothing and money not with them when taken were left. And it is said that the white inhabitants around, stood with open arms to seize whatever property they could put their hands on.

"In driving them, a platoon of soldiers walked before and behind, and a file of soldiers on each side, armed with all the common appalling instruments of death; while the soldiers, it is said, would often use the same language as if driving hogs, and goad them forward with their bayonets."

Riverwalk

Riverwalk, a paved pedestrian-cycling trail, begins at the base of the Tennessee Aquarium at 1 Broad St. and continues nine miles upriver. The next sites are best reached by parking downtown and walking along the Riverwalk.

Ross's Landing

In June 1838, several thousand Cherokees left from Ross's Landing for the West. There were two departures, several weeks apart. The plan was to float all the way to Arkansas, then walk the remainder of the distance. But some people were already ill from exposure, malnutrition, bad sanitation and abuse. In addition, many of the more traditional Cherokees had a horror of big rivers, as it was thought that Uktena, a huge serpent, lived underneath and would pull people into the underworld.

Butrick's account from June 10, 1838: "The first company sent down the river, including those dear trembling doves who spent a night at our house, were, it appears, literally crammed into the boat. There was, we understand, a flat bottom boat, 100 feet long, 20 feet wide, and two stories high, fastened to an old steam boat. This was so filled that the timbers began to crack and give way, and the boat itself was on the point of sinking. Some of the poor inmates were of course taken out, while this boat was lashed to the steam boat, and some other small boats were brought to take in those who had been recalled. Twelve hundred, it is said, were hurried off in this manner at one time."

A place downstream known as "the Suck," because swift currents and whirlpools dashed boats against the rocks, was especially bad in the summer drought. The unwieldy flotillas almost capsized, so the Cherokees were unloaded and put on smaller boats. In the confusion, some people fled into the hills of northern Alabama to hide in remote valleys. Others fell overboard or died along the way. These shipments were so disastrous that Chief Ross requested future departures be allowed to wait until fall's better weather.

The camps

Follow the Riverwalk upstream, past the Hunter Museum, then downhill to Scrappy Moore Field and Manker Patten Tennis Club at 100 Douglas St. This was the approximate site of Camp Cherokee. Aside from a historical marker, there is no sign of the camp today.

As the federal government had planned to move the Cherokees quickly, it was ill-prepared for keeping them in camps month after month through the hot summer. One source mentions 2,300 people encamped here during July. Few had tents. Brush shelters gave scant cover. Rations were mostly salt pork and flour. Dysentery, measles, ague, whooping cough and other diseases raged through the camps.

"Death is becoming a familiar event. Two are likewise buried today at the camps 2 1/2 miles distant. We understand that from 10 to 20 die daily at the Agency," Butrick wrote on July 22, 1838. (There was another huge camp at the Indian Agency, near what is now Athens, Tenn.)

Although there are playing fields, streets and houses on the site of Camp Cherokee, there are likely also unmarked graves of those who died here.

The Passage

As you return downstream toward the Tennessee Aquarium, you'll find the Passage tucked between Market Street Bridge and the aquarium. Designed by Native Americans and completed in 2005, the Passage is dedicated to the Cherokee story. On the side of the Ocean Journey Building, doors flowing with "weeping walls" of water represent the seven clans. Six-foot-tall ceramic disks tell the Cherokee story, while water flows underneath along terraces. At the bottom of the terraces, water is sprayed in an arc into the river. The Passage is a place of remembering and of looking forward, in some measure bringing the Trail of Tears full circle.

Butrick's Trail of Tears

But, of course, the heartbreaking story of the Trail of Tears didn't end in Chattanooga in 1838. In his journal, Butrick details how he, too, followed the trail. As a missionary, he wanted to go with his Cherokee church. With permission from Chief Ross, in October 1838 Butrick and his wife moved from Brainerd Mission to camp near Vann's Town. As many as 1,000 Cherokees camped here, finally leaving for the west on Nov. 1, 1838.

Vann's Town

To reach the site of this camp, follow Tenn. 58 north for 7.6 miles. Look for the Vann's Town historical marker next to Chickamauga Lake. In the early 1800s, "Rich Joe" Vann was the wealthiest man — Cherokee or white — in the area. (Joseph was the son of James Vann, who built the Chief Vann House near Chatsworth, Ga.) In the 1835 census, Joseph owned a mill, a ferry, 35 houses and numerous slaves. In 1836, he was among those who emigrated to Arkansas Territory, taking his slaves along.

Butrick's story continues on Oct. 5, 1838: "Arrived at the camps, pitched our tent near those of [Cherokee church members who had arrived earlier]. The night, however, was rendered peculiarly distressing by the almost constant yells of drunkards, passing and repassing to and from a whiskey shop set up by a white man to ensnare the poor Indians."

As one of the last groups to leave for the west, the detachment first had to cross the Tennessee River by ferry. Butrick details a frightening crossing, the overloaded ferry foundering within an inch of capsizing. It took all day for the group to cross. The first night's camp was just behind the hills on the far side, now under Chickamauga Lake at Chester Frost State Park. On the western horizon is Walden's Ridge, the first of many mountains they would have to cross.

Through one of the bitterest winters in memory, the Cherokees made their way to Arkansas Territory. The Taylor detachment, along with others, stalled for weeks at the frozen Mississippi River. Rations ran low, sanitation was impossible and diseases became death warrants.

The last Cherokees arrived in Arkansas Territory in March 1839. As many as one in four died in the camps and along the trail. Their first year in their new land was a dying year, too, as the promised farming supplies were scarce.

Political divisions flared between the early immigrants and these later ones, and between those who had signed the treaty of New Echota and those who had resisted removal. Some of the treaty signers were killed — whether they were murdered or executed is still debated today. Butrick lived until 1851 in the new territory, remaining a missionary to the end.

Today, as commemorations like the Passage show, the Cherokee story rises above the trauma of the Trail of Tears. Descendants of the trail survivors number more than 165,000. And in the Southeast, cities are finally remembering their Cherokee roots.

IF YOU GO

Getting there

Chattanooga is about 90 miles north of downtown Atlanta, about a 90-minute drive. Take I-75 north.

Begin your tour at Audubon Acres. From I-75, take Exit 3A to East Brainerd Road. At the second traffic light, turn right onto Gunbarrel Road, which becomes North Sanctuary Road. After about 2 miles, it dead ends at Audubon Acres.

To get to Brainerd Cemetery, leave Audubon Acres, following North Sanctuary/Gunbarrel Road back to East Brainerd Road. Turn left onto East Brainerd Road and follow it under I-75 and through neighborhoods until you reach Brainerd Road. Turn left on Brainerd Road and look for Brainerd Village Shopping Center on the left. Just past it, turn left into Eastgate Mall. The cemetery is straight ahead, about halfway into the parking lot on your left. The entrance is at the corner.

To find John Ross House, exit Eastgate Mall, turning left onto Brainerd Road. Turn left at Spring Creek Road. Enter I-24 west and follow I-24 over Missionary Ridge toward Chattanooga. Exit on Rossville Boulevard south (U.S. 27). When Rossville Boulevard intersects with McFarland Avenue, turn left. Take the first right on Spring Street. Behind the commercial buildings is the park with ponds and the Ross house.

To get to Riverwalk, return to I-24 west. Veer right on U.S. 27 north, exit at Fourth Street and follow signs to the Tennessee Aquarium. Park in one of the lots or at a meter on the street and walk behind the aquarium.

To find Vann's Town, from downtown Chattanooga follow Fourth Street to Riverside Drive. This becomes Amnicola Highway, and follow this road upriver to Tenn. 153. Go south on 153, and exit at Tenn. 58, then go north. The sign for Vann's Town is on your left, about 7 1/2 miles from Tenn. 58.

Where to eat

• Tony's, 212 High St. Fresh pasta, rustic hearth breads and gourmet salads. Casual yet elegant atmosphere. Entrees from $9. www.bluffviewartdistrict.com.

• Rembrandt's, 204 High St. Sandwiches, pastries and mile-high cakes. Sweets start at $2, sandwiches at $6.

• Ankar's Downtown, 510 Broad St. Hoagies, falafel and gyros. A longtime local favorite. Entrees $8-$12.

• Mojo Burrito, 138-B Market St. Fresh Mexican featuring St. Elmo's Fire Chicken and homemade chips. Vegetarian options available. Entrees $3-$7. www.mojoburrito.com.

Books

• A Novel Idea Bookstore, 38 Frazier Ave. (across the Walnut Street pedestrian bridge from the Passage) carries a good selection of Native American books and art. www.itsanovelidea.com.

• "Footsteps of the Cherokees: A Guide to the Eastern Homelands of the Cherokee Nation" by Vicki Rozema (John F. Blair, $17.95 paperback).

• "The Journal of Rev. Daniel S. Butrick: Cherokee Removal" published by the Trail of Tears Association: Oklahoma Chapter, 1998.

• "Myths of the Cherokee and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees" by James Mooney, published by Charles and Randy Elder-Booksellers, reproduced in 1982.

Information

• TaleSpin Festival, May 12-14, presented by the Chattanooga Downtown Partnership. Ticketed and unticketed events will be held at the historic Tivoli Theater and under tents along Chattanooga's new waterfront. www.downtownchattanooga.org.

• John Ross House: roadsidegeorgia.com/site/rosshouse.html.

• Audubon Acres: www.audubonchattanooga.org/acres.html.

• Official site of the Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma: www.cherokee.org.

• Trail of Tears Association: www.nationaltota.org.

• Trail of Tears: www.rosecity.net/tears.