DawsonTimes.com

About 400 miles of new trail will be added to the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail in Georgia alone when President Barack Obama signs the Trail of Tears Documentation Act into law today.

The Trail of Tears Documentation Act is part of the massive Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009, which the president is expected to sign Monday.

“It’s not entirely accurate to say that the Trail of Tears began in Tennessee, but that’s been the public perception,” said Jeff Bishop, president of the Georgia Chapter of the Trail of Tears Association, a national non-profit that works with the Cherokee Nation, the Muscogee Nation and the National Park Service to preserve, interpret and promote the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.

“In fact, more Cherokees were living in Georgia than anywhere else during the 1838 Removal,” said Bishop. “And you could say that the Trail of Tears actually began at the doorstep of every Cherokee family.”

The Georgia Chapter of TOTA was heavily involved in determining the location of the 15 fort and camp sites used by troops during the Removal, and these depots stretched all across North Georgia. The routes from these fort sites to detainment camps in Tennessee will be added to the Trail of Tears as “feeder routes.”

There were fort/camp sites in Cedartown, Rome, Ellijay, Dahlonega, Canton and many other Georgia towns.

The bill will add as components of the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail the following routes and land components by which the Cherokee Nation was removed to Oklahoma:

(1) the routes known as the "Benge and Bell" routes;

(2) the land components of the designated water routes in Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Tennessee;

(3) the routes from the collection forts in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee to the emigration depots; and

(4) the related campgrounds located along such routes and land components.

The cost of the additions to the Trail of Tears will be about $300,000 annually beginning in 2009, but the additions could eventually lead to a big return in Georgia tourism dollars.

“Twice as many visitors enter Georgia by car than is true for the national average,” said Bishop. “Over 50 million adult visitors to Georgia spend nearly $12 billion here annually.

“Heritage and cultural tourism are the fastest-growing segment of the tourism industry,” he said.

Households on heritage trips spend an average of $722 per trip, compared with $457 for all U.S. travelers, he said, and 44% of heritage travelers include shopping in their trips, compared with 33% of all travelers.

“And history is Georgia’s number one attraction,” he said. “So it makes a lot of sense, from strictly an economic perspective, to preserve, protect, and promote our cultural resources.

“And let’s not forget that the Trail of Tears expansion into Georgia offers us a unique educational opportunity, as well,” he said. “This is a story that, unfortunately, too many people still don’t know a whole lot about.” 

The mission of the Trail of Tears Association is to protect and preserve the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail in partnership with the National Park Service, and to promote awareness of the historic legacy associated with the Trail, including the effects of the U.S. government’s Indian Removal policy on the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole and other tribes that were removed to Indian Territory in Oklahoma in the early-to-mid 19th century. 

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