CHARLESTON, Tenn. — Many threads of history from America’s first full century weave together into a story of courage and tragedy along both banks of the Hiwassee River.

A new Charleston/Calhoun Historical Society has been formed for Bradley and McMinn county residents who want to honor the memories of the Cherokees’ Trail of Tears, the trials of the American Civil War and how the local people affected both.

“It’s not to celebrate but to memorialize the people and those times,” said Faye Callaway, president of the new society. Nearly 50 people attended a meeting of the new group recently.

The society’s ultimate goal is an interpretive center where history tourists can learn the local story and get directions to other sites, from Georgia’s Chief Vann House to Red Clay and Civil War sites.

Now is a good time to take their first steps, society members say. Tennessee is joining the National Civil War Trail this fall, a public television series on the Trail of Tears is to air in 2009 and the war’s sesquicentennial anniversary is coming soon,

“You are sitting on a jewel here,” said Lee Waddell Curtis, director of program development for the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development.

The Charleston/Calhoun area has appeal for historical tourism, she said, plus small-town charm and scenery. Plus, she noted, the two towns are just off Interstate 75 and on U.S. Highway 11, access many historical sites do not have.

“This area is almost like a diamond in the rough,” said Mary Ann Peckham, executive director of the Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association.

Society organizers say the Charleston/Calhoun area is rich in history, from the pioneer Revolutionary War veterans who settled here and the Cherokees who fought with Andrew Jackson to the removal in 1838 and the Civil War in 1861. Thousands of Cherokee families were held in temporary stockades across the region before they became Trail of Tears refugees.

Ms. Curtis, Ms. Callaway, Melissa Woody and Linda French made a recent tour of the sites. Mrs. Woody is director of the local convention and visitors bureau and Ms. French is restoring a Civil War-era house that may also have connections with the U.S. Indian Agency and the Trail of Tears.

One stop was the Charleston Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Built in 1860, the church began services in 1861 as the Civil War began. It was later used as a hospital. There are chunks of window sill missing where tethered horses are said to have chewed the wood.

Inside, the wooden floors and pews catch the reflection of stained glass windows where generations of families have been wed or memorialized.

“You can almost hear them,” Ms. Curtis said, walking along the plank flooring.

The Henegar House is also on the National Register and is being restored by its owner. The area around it was part of Fort Cass, the military base from which soldiers patrolled the Cherokee camps before the Trail of Tears.

Ms. French’s home is where Capt. J.N. Aiken grew up before serving in the Civil War. She is trying to find out more about the history of the house before Capt. Aiken.

“We feel like it was here during the removal. But what was it? All the indications are that it was here. But we don’t have that history,” she said.

Society members and property owners hope to have archaeological digs some day to find answers to their suspicions. Some of that help can be obtained through the state, Ms. Curtis told them.

“All this has been known or talked about for many years,” Mrs. Woody said. “But now just seems like the right time to do something. These were sad times and what we want to do is memorialize the people who lived through them.”

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