Welcome to Coopertown!
Under increasing pressure from white settlers to possess rich Native American held territories west of the Appalachian Mountains, President Andrew Jackson worked with Congress to pass the Indian Removal Act in 1830. The federal government, under authority of this act, began pressuring the Indian tribes, particularly the Cherokee Nation in the east to leave, offering “free” unsettled land further west in what is now Oklahoma. Monetary incentives were also offered. Most Cherokees were opposed to leaving their native lands, but in 1835, a small minority of Cherokees signed the Treaty of New Echota.
Using this treaty - and “voluntary” relocation being largely unsuccessful - Jackson’s successor, Martin Van Buren, implemented the forceful removal of the Cherokees along with other Native American tribes to the new territories. General Winfield Scott and 7,000 soldiers under his command began gathering the Cherokees at Chattanooga and escorting them west. The removal was comprised of three main routes. The Northern Route would pass through the very center of today’s Coopertown. Thousands of Native Americans died on all three trails from disease, hunger and exposure, earning the journey the name “The Trail of Tears.”
The trail left Nashville northward along what was then the Nashville to Hopkinsville highway crossing Sycamore Creek into Robertson County (only the bridge footings remain). The exact path from this point is described by Benjamin Nance in The Trail of Tears in Tennessee: A Study of the Routes Used During the Cherokee Removal of 1838 (Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, 2001, p.13):
“In Robertson County the route followed what is now Martin Chapel Road to Old Coopertown road and passed through Coopertown. From here the route followed the Burgess Gower Road to the Northwest to Charlie Maxie Road at Turnersville. Turnersville is at the confluence of Miller’s Creek and Honey Run Creek. The route from Turnersville followed Ed Ross Road to a point where the route followed what is now a well-preserved segment of the older road. The route then followed Toby Darden Road to the Montgomery County line.”
From there, they crossed the Red River at what is now Port Royal and then onward through Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas before finally arriving in “Indian Territory” around present day Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Every year, the removal is commemorated by the “Remember the Removal” ride, begun in 1984 and sponsored by The Cherokee Nation. Coopertown hosts a rest stop for the riders.
Permission has been given to park in the Pleasant View fire department station lot across the road. Of course, don’t block access and daytime caching only. Special thanks to fellow geocacher Dawn Armstrong whose husband is Assistant Chief. This is a quiet country road, but exercise caution and watch the kids! Note also that the coordinates seemed to bounce around a bit possibly because of overhead power lines, but the hiding place should be pretty obvious.