Erin Drake

Staff photo by Dan Henry
Drin Drake, center, speaks to students from Georgia State University and North Georgia College and State University during an archeological dig at the Fort Cumming site in LaFayette, Ga., on Saturday.

LaFAYETTE, Ga. -- Archaeologists scouring the soil in LaFayette found enough "negative evidence" to determine that a Cherokee removal fort in the downtown area may not have been where it was originally thought to be.

The team studying the area near Big Spring last week found few artifacts, telltale soil stains or underground features that normally indicate such structures, according to archaeologist Erin Andrews Drake, who headed up the dig.

"We're just at the tip of the iceberg," she said. "There's so much more work to be done."

The Georgia Chapter of the Trail of Tears Association wants Fort Cumming, located near the corner of Indiana and Main streets in LaFayette, added to the National Trail of Tears registry. As many as 1,000 Cherokees were detained at the hastily built fort in 1838 before being forced westward to Oklahoma, historians say.

The historical investigators found some coal, a handful of possible artifacts and one small fragment of whiteware ceramic pottery that might or might not be from the original fort, according to Mrs. Drake.

The absence of more artifacts and the lack of the features leads her to believe the fort may not have been close to Big Spring, as originally believed.

Archaeologists also unearthed a blacktop road that ran through the area in the 1960s, which provided a reminder as to how development may have changed the site.

The group knew coming in they might not find much, but Mrs. Drake and members of the association said it's all about gathering information.

"It's not just what do we dig and what do we find, it's how we put it together and what that tells us," she said.

Jeff Bishop, president of the Trail of Tears' Georgia Chapter, said his group is also planning digs at four similar forts near Canton, Kingston, Calhoun and Chatsworth. It's all part of the overall goal to add interpretive exhibits at several Cherokee removal sites in North Georgia, he said.

"Before we can interpret them, we have to know where they were," he added.

The searchers will return to a new site nearby in LaFayette in January.

ABOUT FORT CUMMING

Fort Cumming at a glance:

* Housed 500 to 1,000 Cherokees in 1838

* After about 10 days, Cherokees were escorted to Ross's Landing

* One of 14 or 15 similar forts around the state

* One of 10 that was fortified

* Commanded by Capt. Samuel S. Farris of LaFayette

Source: Trail of Tears Association, Georgia Chapter