Audio
Cadron Settlement Park - They Passed This Way Exhibit Audio Description
Transcript
Welcome to Cadron Settlement Park.
Exhibit 1 - They Passed This Way
You are standing at a Trail of Tears National Historic Trail exhibit that is inches tall and 36 inches wide. In front of you is the Arkansas River. Behind the exhibit is a green lawn with a historic blockhouse structure. There are pathways in front of you down to the river and behind you to the picnic structure and parking area.
The exhibit has a black band across the top. Within it, there is text that reads, "Cadron Settlement Park, Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, National Park Service, US Army Corps of Engineers." There is a triangular logo for the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.
Beneath the black band is the exhibit title "They Passed This Way."
The large image at the top is a painting depicting a steamboat traveling slightly right of straight on a river so that you can see the length of the white boat, with smoke billowing out of a smokestack on top towards the front and the paddlewheel at the rear. It is towing a keelboat directly behind it. Facing the viewer in the forefront of the painting on top of the keelboat is a Cherokee Indian man in traditional clothing, standing upright, staring at the viewer. The keelboat depicts people in coversation, one with hands on his face, a woman holding a child, and others.
The primary text reads,
"Thousands of Cherokee men, women, and children passed here on the water route of the Trail of Tears. Implementation of the 1830 Indian Removal Act forced Cherokee off their land and out of their homes in the southeastern US and onto a path to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma).
While faster than the land route, those who journeyed by water faced challenges and dangers, including the quick spread of sickness onboard, exposure to disease along the river lowlands, fires aboard steamers, unpredictable weather, and changing water levels that affected river navigation."
Next to the primary text is a map of Arkansas showing the route of the Arkansas River coursing from the southeast part of the state at the junction with the Mississippi River to the northwest where it crosses the Oklahoma border. The caption reads, "The Arkansas River was one of the routes of the Trail of Tears."
The right third of the exhibit has a subtitled area that reads, "Five Tribes Passed This Way on Land and Water" and the content begins with the following quote. "Between 700 and 800 Cherokee arrived here...the river being too low to proceed farther by water...they are resuming their journey by land. The summer (or bowel) complaint... is prevailing among them...particularly among the children, and a good many deaths have occurred.” from the Arkansas Gazette, August 1, 1838.
The text beneath the quote reads, "You are looking toward the Arkansas River, where thousands of Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole passed during their forced removal from the southeastern United States to Indian Territory.
Far from being the wide, smooth river you see today, the Arkansas in the 1830s was treacherous, causing delays and increasing misery. For this reason, thousands of Indian people traveled by land over the 1828 Military Road to Indian Territory. Remnants of this abandoned road still exist northeast of here."
Another map shows the states of the Southeastern US with arrows indicating the routes west to Indian Territory for the Chickasaws, Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, and Seminoles. The caption below it reads, "The United States government forcibly removed more than 15,000 Cherokee, 21,000 Muscogee (Creek), 9,000 Choctaw, 6,000 Chickasaw, and 4,000 Seminole."
Across the bottom are two bands. The first one in black includes the title "Journey Along the Arkansas River - Visit These Sites to Learn More about the Trail of Tears" followed by the URL nps.gov/trte/planyourvisit.
The bottom band includes a horizontal line with places along the Arkansas River and their distance from the mouth of the Arkansas River at the Mississippi River to the Oklahoma border. It is titled "Distance in Miles Across the Arkansas River Portion of the Trail of Tears Water Route."
Mouth of the Arkansas River 0 Arkansas Post National Memorial 14 Pendleton Bend Park 16 Rising Star Park 48 Tar Camp Park 84 Willow Beach Park 102 North Shore Riverwalk Park 112 Toad Suck Ferry Park 152 Cadron Settlement Park 154 Lake Dardanelle State Park 204 Oklahoma Border 303
Description
Interested in the Trail of Tears at Cadron Settlement Park? Take a look at these interpretive exhibits and listen to their audio descriptions.
Date Created
10/27/2023
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