Current or upcoming chapter activities:

• Chapter Involvement in development of Tuscumbia Landing Interpretive Center.
• Completion of archaeological excavation of military headquarters site at Fort Payne, AL.
• Sharon Freeman, board member, heading Fort Payne archaeological survey, artifact analysis, and writing NHRP and NHT nomination.
• Larry Smith to work on Gunter’s Landing nomination to NHRP and NHT.
• Use of 1840 surveys to locate Cherokee Removal roads on topo maps.
• Field surveys to physically locate 1830 roads used for Cherokee Removal.
• Ongoing research on Benge Detachment route through Alabama.
• Research on Tuscumbia, Courtland, & Decatur Railroad for compiling National Park Service report.

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Current or upcoming chapter activities:

• Improve communication and coordination among trail partners within Arkansas, through chapter newsletter and research exchange.
• Continue to assist the Indian Removal Through Arkansas project at the Sequoyah Research Center of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
• Encourage local research and interpretation of all routes.
• Work to expand membership.
• Individual members continue with their own research.

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Current chapter research or projects:

• Research projects focus on identification of removal forts and sites in GA and the routes used during Removal. The chapter has marked one fort site, Fort Newnan. The chapter is currently working with the National Park Service and the City of Cedartwon to place wayside exhibits at the Cedartown Camp and hospital site. An online database, called "TOTAbase," has been established to facilitate the cooperative nature of the research process and to better integrate historic trail resource preservation efforts.

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Current chapter activities:

• Working with Illinois Department of Transportation to improve interpretive signage and design displays/waysides along the Auto Trail Route (mainly IL Rt.146). The National Park Service is in the process of making 18 signs to be placed on the Trail in Pope County.
• Building cooperation between >among the chapter through a chapter newsletter exchange
• Visiting landowners with certifiable sites along the Trail and putting them in touch with National Park Service
• Supporting certification of authentic sites and collecting GPS coordinates along the original route for the National Park Service to more accurately mark the Trail
• Supporting enactment of an Illinois state trail that follows the Cherokee Removal route through southern Illinois
• On-going oral history project of videotaping people telling stories of family lore or history of the Trail of Tears as it pertained to Illinois.
• The Monument Committee is working to raise funds to erect a monument, or statue, to be placed in the Court House lawn in Golconda to honor the Cherokees as they passed through here.
• A "Maping of Southern Illinois" exhibit featuring maps and information on the Trail of Tears was hosted by the University Museum at Southern Illinois University from September through December 2007. The display showed a pictorial history of the TOT through Southern Illinois. The exhibit was assembled by Harvey Henson and Karen Frailey with assistance and information provided by Illinois chapter board members.
• A new map of the Trail of Tears through Southern Illinois based on research and GPS coordinates of actual remnants of the Trail of Tears is being created by board members, Joe Crabb for Pope County, Gary Hacker for Johnson County, and Sandy Boaz for Union County, who have painstakingly researched the actual trail Cherokee emigrants used to pass through Illinois. Harvey Henson is working with these fellow board members and historians to create a digital map of the Trail of Tears through Southern Illinois.
• Detailed geophysical (remote sensing) mapping of the Camp Ground Cemetery by Harvey Henson is nearly complete and a draft of the final report is expected fall 2008. Unmarked graves have been located that may date back to the TOT episode.

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Current chapter activities:

• The Kentucky chapter was established in July 2004 and continues its efforts to gain new members. Meetings are held at various locations within western Kentucky. Members are actively engaged in research to identify sites for possible certification along the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. Once such site was submitted to the National Park Service in the fall of 2006. Certification is currently pending. Members also work to identify sites for possible site interpretation.

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Current chapter activities:

• Work on more possible sites for certification.
• The Missouri chapter is still out on the trail finding trail segments and sites. The chapter is working with the National Park Service National Trails System Office to do site evaluations at sites like the Star City Ranch, Snelson-Brinker Cabin and Massie Iron Works at Maramec Spring Park, and the Hildebrand crossing at US Hwy 63 at Licking.
• The chapter is working with the NPS and the Missouri Department of Transportation preservation officer on the Benge Route in Southeast Missouri.
• The chapter is pleased to have another state agency, the Department of Natural Resources' Division of State Parks, join in the chapter's efforts to help develop the Trail in Missouri
• Assist NPS National Trails System - Santa Fe office with the Benge Route.
• Continue to research and locate encampment sites and trail segments along the Benge, Hildebrand and Northern Routes and Missouri's more than 600 miles of trail.
• Work on signage for the Waynesville/Roubidoux Spring, Maramec Spring Park/Massey Ironworks and Snelson-Brinker route, direction, and interpretative signs.

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Current chapter research and projects:
In early 2005, the North Carolina Chapter contracted with a graphic designer to design the eighteen wayside signs that will provide information about significant sites associated with the Trail of Tears in western North Carolina.

Inventory and Assessment

Brett Riggs is completing the draft of The Inventory and Evaluation of Trail of Tears Associated Sites in Southwestern North Carolina and is working to complete the multi-property nomination of sites to the National Register of Historic Places.

Interpretation

• Development of interpretive exhibit on Cherokee lifeways in North Carolina at the time of removal for the Cherokee County Historical Museum.
• Development of 18 wayside exhibit panels for Trail of Tears related sites in Swain, Jackson, Macon, Cherokee, Clay, and Graham counties

Preservation

• Digital imaging and archiving of the Cherokee accounts ledgerbook (1836-1838) from Hunter's Store. This ledger details store purchases and payments by hundreds of Cherokees (as well as Fort Butler staff) over the 20 months prior to removal.

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Current chapter projects:

• Publication of the "1835 Cherokee Census"
• On going research and grave marking of survivors of the Trail of Tears.

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Current chapter activities:

• Research continues on the Bell and Benge routes through Tennessee, the James Brown home, and the Chattanooga area. More information can be found on the TN chapter website.
• Chapter meeting: August 17, 2008, 11: 00 am Eastern Time, Blyth's Ferry located just off Hwy. 60 at the Tennessee River in Meigs County.
• Chapter meeting: November 1, 2008, 11:00 am Central Time, Lawrenceburg located on Hwy. 64 in Lawrence County

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1100 North University, Suite 143
Little Rock, AR 72207
Phone: (501) 666-9032
Fax: (501) 666-5875
E-mail: TOTA@arindianctr.org