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Bike group retraces Trail of Tears

by Barbara Mathieson | July 2, 2009 at 04:03 am

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This cycling group is following the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation. What a great idea! Unfortunately it was a sad moment in his history.

By Dipti Vaidya • THE TENNESSEAN • July 2, 2009

Riding 900-plus miles from Georgia to Oklahoma, their journey is more than physical — it is also about memory.

"You think you're hurting right now, but you think how bad they were hurting when they were walking this trail and it kind of puts it into perspective," said Sarah Holcomb, one of several young bicyclists from the Cherokee Nation who are retracing their ancestors' journey on the Trail of Tears, the forced exodus of the Cherokee to western lands in 1838-39.

On Wednesday, the Remember the Removal group rode from Woodbury, Tenn., to Murfreesboro, along a country road that approximates the historic route. Their 23-day trip began Saturday at the former tribal capital of New Echota in north Georgia.

The Cherokee Nation's chief, Chad Smith, joined the group in Woodbury for the rest of the trip.

From Murfreesboro, they and their bikes were driven to Nashville, where they stopped at Mt. Olivet Cemetery to pay respects to William Bates, a former senator who spoke against a second seizure of Cherokee land in 1898.