Cherokee pedal their way on Trail of Tears

By Jamie Jones

SPRING PLACE — Under the unyielding Georgia sun, 10 cyclists of Cherokee descent began a 23-day, 900-mile quest to retrace the brutal path their ancestors made in the late 1830s — The Trail of Tears.

The group of nine men and one woman departed New Echota, the original Cherokee nation capital, Saturday morning on the “Remember the Removal” ride, pedaling 17 miles north to the Chief Vann House outside of Chatsworth to rest their legs during a lunch break. The Vann House and its sprawling plantation was built by James Vann, a noted Cherokee leader and businessman. The group will finish their route on July 15 in Tahlequah, Okla., the seat of tribal government for the Cherokee Nation.

“No one in my family has been to these sites since the removal,” said Wyatt Collins, a 20-year-old college student from Chelsea, Okla. “I like learning about my culture and knowing my Native American roots, along with German and Irish. I also re-enact, so I’m kind of living this. They (his Cherokee ancestors) did it during the winter and we’re doing it in the summer, but it’s the same amount of miles. It’s tough. It’s a good learning experience.”

The Trail of Tears took place during the winter months of 1838 through 1839. Some 16,000 Cherokees were forced by the U.S. government to leave their homes, farms and communities. They were held in federal stockades until deep winter, then moved through territories that are now Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee. It’s estimated more than 4,000 Cherokees died on the trek.

The riders planned to wrap up the first leg of the trip by spending the night in Red Clay, which was the seat of Cherokee government from 1832 until 1838. The journey also commemorates the first “Remember the Removal” bicycle ride 25 years ago that young Cherokees took from Cherokee, N.C., to Tahlequah, Okla.

On the way to the final destination of Tahlequah, the group will travel between 40 miles and 70 miles each day. To deal with the heat, they take breaks about every 20 minutes and have stops built in to see historic sites along the way, such as the Vann House. Collins said the Georgia heat in the low-90s is actually cooler than back home in Oklahoma, where temperatures are above 100 degrees.

“The ride has been not too bad,” Collins said. “The scenery, it’s a beautiful country out here. I’m used to the plains of Oklahoma so all of these hills are a sight to see.”

Dodging tractor trailers on two-lane roads proved to be challenging on the first day, riders said. And there have been some bumps already. The youngest cyclist, 16-year-old Jonny Christie, crashed on the way to the Vann House. Outside of a scratch on his chin — and perhaps a little bit of embarrassment — he was fine. The group has several support vans carrying food, water and other supplies. They also have the route mapped out with GPS coordinates. Support staff members are documenting the trip on the Web site, www.www.remembertheremoval.org., complete with pictures, video and blog entries.

At 38, group leader Todd Enlow is the oldest rider. The idea for the ride came from discussions about the first one in 1984.

“It’s a lot of focus on education and leadership for the riders to learn about their strengths and capabilities now and as an individual, but to also teach them about the history, their ancestry and their culture and to share that knowledge with the rest of the world as we experience it,” Enlow said. “It’s one thing to see it on TV, on the Internet or in pictures, but it’s something else to experience it and hear the stories.”

The riders have the support of many members of the Cherokee nation. Jack Baker, a member of the Cherokee National Tribal Council and president of the Trail of Tears Association, plans to follow the group through Sunday. He also met the group at the Vann House and shared the site’s history.

“It makes our youth aware of what happened to the Cherokees originally,” Baker said. “It gives them a chance to visit some of the historic sites and become more aware of their own personal history.”