DUNLAP, Tenn. – A journal by the Rev. Daniel S. Butrick covering the period from May 1838 to April 1839 documents the long journey made by Cherokee Indians from the Chattanooga area to Oklahoma.
It tells the story of how 1,029 people in 60 wagons traveled rough terrain and the obstacles they encountered.
“Supposedly, this is the only daily journal” of the Trail of Tears, said Carson Camp, a local historian who volunteers at the Dunlap Coke Ovens Park and Museum. “This is the only transcript of that [trip]. He was a missionary.”
An old mill road the Indians took through the Sequatchie Valley still exists today and has been certified by the National Park Service as part of the Trail of Tears.
The road was documented a few years ago, but a pine beetle infestation killed hundreds of trees and the trail was closed by the Sequatchie Valley Historical Association, Camp said. Volunteers recently cleared the mile-long path of about 500 dead trees and now the trail is open to the public.