79-Year old Gene Glasscock and his wife Noqah Elisi are taking a trip, but not just any vacation. They are traveling by covered wagon along the Cherokees’ Trail of Tears. The trip is to memorialize the thousands of Indians who died on the route in the 1800’s. The Glasscock’s have Cherokee ancestry in their blood. Noqah Elisi is also taking the trip as a way to remember her son Johnny who died the year before in Alaska. Johnny died in an accidental shooting, according to Noqah Elisi. She had planned to take the trip with him four years ago. That never happened.
About 16,000 Cherokee Indians were driven from their lands by the US Army under the command of Andrew Jackson. They were forced to walk about 1,000 miles to an area that was titled “Indian Territory.” Some 4,000 died along the Trail of Tears that is also called “The trail where they cried.” The Glasscock’s will end their travel in Oklahoma, which is where the Cherokee also ended their trip.
I captured this shot when they stopped at MTSU in Murfreesboro, TN to spend the night.