County of center: Giles County
Location of center: E. College St., Rhodes St. & Stadium St.,Pulaski
Marker Erected By: Trail of Tears Nationals Association & Tennessee Department of Transportation
Artists: Gail Bergeron & Pamela Keller
"PULASKI -- When Diana Steelman showed visitors the sculpture of an American family enduring the horror of forced migration, she reached out to hold the cold, bronze hand of a little girl. The child’s posture suggests a last look back at a home lost forever.
"As Steelman described the intricate details that were cast into the sculpture, she stepped over to the next figure -- a mother cradling her infant -- to hold and caress the baby’s tiny, bare feet.
"Steelman’s affectionate, comforting gestures were an expression of pain over something that happened in Pulaski 175 years ago. The event was a travesty, she said, and it should never be forgotten.
"That’s why Steelman, a former Giles County tourism coordinator, volunteers at Pulaski’s newest cultural attraction to help ensure that those who don’t know can learn, and those who do know will never forget the Trail of Tears.
"The Giles County Trail of Tears Memorial Interpretive Center opened Friday in a former Catholic chapel that was moved -- all 100 tons of rock and concrete -- a block and a half to its current location at 220 Stadium Street near downtown Pulaski.
"The center is the culmination of more than a decade of planning, fundraising and careful research to create a permanent reminder that the federal government once uprooted American Indians from their ancestral land and sent them on a forced march from the eastern U.S. to territories west of the Mississippi River.
"It was a pitiless land grab from native people who were regarded by many in power as savages, even the groups known as “the civilized tribes” who lived in houses, dressed in modern clothing and managed their own affairs with sophisticated self-government.
"In 1830, during the administration of President Andrew Jackson, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act providing for the relocation of native people from any eastern state to western territories.
"From 1838-1839, Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole and Muscogee Creek Indians -- some 100,000 men, women and children -- were militarily forced from their homes throughout the southeast. In many cases, they were allowed to keep only what they wore and could carry on their backs.
"Then they walked over routes that covered 1,000 miles to what is now Oklahoma. Along the way, 4,000 died.
"Two of those paths intersected in Pulaski, scene of the only land-route crossroads in Tennessee on the westward trek that came to be known by the Indians as Nunna Dual Isuny, or The Trail Where We Cried, and later as the Trail of Tears.
"Steelman said some Pulaski residents carry oral histories of the march, stories told by their forebears who sat on porches and watched the wretched parade as it moved through town. Some Indians bought dry goods while in Pulaski, and the Trail of Tears Center displays receipts from those transactions.
'“We also have a roster of the entire group (on one of the routes), and every year for eight years now we have a Trail of Tears Motorcycle Ride,” Steelman said.
"Each rider in the event, which happens on the second weekend in November, draws a family name from the roster and rides in memory of those people, she explained.
"Using photo and text exhibits, reproductions of Indian art and handicrafts, photocopies of documents from the time of the trek, outdoor benches bearing mosaic depictions of the forced march and an enormous map inset on the grounds outside its entrance, the center seeks to tell “what happened here,” a travesty on the crossroads of Pulaski, Steelman said.
"Although not yet staffed for a full schedule, the center will eventually open seven days a week. More information about times and tours can be obtained by calling (931) 424-4044 or visiting www.gilescountytourism.com.
"Steelman, who wears her heart on her sleeve as she works to memorialize one instance of man’s inhumanity to man, may conduct the tour.
"Or she may be found behind the center, spending time with the lifesize sculpture of one Indian family, holding the hand of a little girl who didn’t want to leave her home." ~ The Daily Herald, August 25, 2013