Theodore Roosevelt Presidential LibraryPublic Lands Directory

Alerts and conditions

All clear. The managing agency, the National Weather Service and wildfire reporting show no current alerts.

Overview

Remember and commemorate the survival of the Cherokee people, forcefully removed from their homelands in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee to live in Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. They traveled by foot, horse, wagon, or steamboat in 1838-1839.

From the National Park Service

History

The designation history for this site (every law, proclamation and order, and the administration behind each) is being researched and checked by the Library’s historians.

What to see and do

Activities

  • Arts and Culture
  • Craft Demonstrations
  • Auto and ATV
  • Scenic Driving
  • Guided Tours
  • Self-Guided Tours - Auto
  • Junior Ranger Program
  • Museum Exhibits

Plan your visit

Hours

Trail of Tears National Historic Trail: OPERATING HOURS VARY FROM SITE TO SITE. There are many historic sites, museums, and parks (federal, state, and local) along the Trail of Tears in Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Illinois, Arkansas, Missouri, or Oklahoma for you to visit. Please contact individual sites for more information by going to Plan Your Visit and selecting Places To Go or Passport Program, where sites are listed by state, and there is an interactive map to search for sites.

Getting there

You can visit many of the sites along the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail over the 2,200+ mile route that crosses 9 states.

Weather

Due to the length of the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, be sure to consult local weather sources for the region you'll be visiting. Check out the forecast with the National Weather Service and search for the area you'd like to visit: www.weather.gov

Phone: N/A

Whose lands these are

These lands are the ancestral and present-day homelands of Native nations. A section on whose lands these are is being prepared with tribal review. In the meantime, Native Land Digital offers a starting point.

Photos

structure in the background with large chimney on the end; signs saying Brown's Ferry Tavern
Brown's Ferry Tavern, Chattanooga, Tennessee · NPS
sunlight coming through trees with green leaves
Mantle Rock Preserve, Joy, Kentucky · NPS
dozens of people walk a section of the Trail of Tears, winter scene, trees with no leaves
Cherokee Retracement at Pea Ridge National Military Park, Garfield, Arkansas · NPS
gravestone with words etched, green grass
Grave Stone of William Adair, Stilwell, Oklahoma · NPS
Two people walk a remnant of the Trail of Tears. Spring setting with green leafed trees.
Crabb Abbott Farm, Grantsburg, Illinois · NPS

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