Packed with People

Packed with People. Rhodes Ferry Park. On this river in front of you, 2,300 Cherokee people arrived in waves, forced from their Tennessee Valley homeland in 1837 to 1838. The steamer Knoxville towed flat boats loaded with Cherokee families. Heavy rains soaked their clothes. Cold wind whipped off the water. They survived on cornmeal and flour fried in bacon grease. Once docked here at Decatur Landing, the Cherokee boarded cramped train cars. Their journey west continued along the rails., "Women were found sick from exposure during the night due to a wet situation...a child of John Fields sick with diarrhea...Mary Swimmer was taken suddenly with fainting and spams." , March 7 journal entry of Dr. Lillybridge Decatur's unique combination of river and railroad transportation played a role in the Trail of Tears. , This view of Decatur Landing in 1905 shows what the scene may have looked like in the 1830s., The Tuscumbia, Courtland, and Decatur Railroads was the only railway line in the country used to transport the Cherokee people during forced removal.