OK, here we go with another of those "history in unexpected places" items.
I was in Huntsville visiting mom recently and made a trip to the South Huntsville Library, a new facility close to her house that replaced two older, smaller branch libraries in that part of the city. This new library has a bookstore and nice coffee shop, and I often go by to donate books. On this visit, for the first time, I noticed the small sign seen below.
For decades in the early 19th century the relationship between an ever-expanding white population in the southeastern U.S. and the native tribes grew more problematic. Natives tried various means of accommodation, and whites became increasingly hostile. In 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, and President Andrew Jackson signed it. Both the federal and state governments were involved. A good overview is Sarah H. Hill's "Cherokee Indian Removal" article in the Encyclopedia of Alabama.
By 1838 forced removal of the Cherokees from the Southeast had begun. The U.S. military and state militias rounded up 15,000 in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee. Five military posts were established in north Alabama as part of a network in that state and Georgia and Tennessee. These forts held troops which moved the natives into detention camps where they remained until heading west to Indian Territory, what is now Oklahoma. Between the camp conditions and the march, some one fourth died of diseases or malnourishment. The removal, which began on May 26, 1838 ended in November when the final groups left Tennessee.
Hill's article describes the forts and routes in north Alabama. "At least 33 military posts and camps were established for Cherokee removal: six in North Carolina, fourteen in Georgia, eight in Tennessee, and five in Alabama. The Alabama posts were Ft. Payne in Rawlingsville (now Fort Payne in DeKalb County), Ft. Morrow at Gunter's Landing (now Guntersville), Ft. Likens in Broomtown Valley, Ft. Lovell at Cedar Bluffs near Turkey Town, and Bellefont, which was a mustering and supply depot....Several routes followed the Tennessee River through Alabama, passing Bellefont in Jackson County, Huntsville in Madison County, Gunter's Landing in Marshall County, Tuscumbia in Colbert County, and Waterloo in Lauderdale County."
That sign below is located at the base of Blevins Gap Road where it runs into Bailey Cove. The road originated as a trail used by natives as a way to come across Green Mountain into the Tennessee River Valley from the east. As white settlers entered that area in the early 1800s, the road connected them with other old roads such as Owens Cross Roads and Big Cove.
Blevins Gap Road came down Green Mountain at the site of the old Grissom High School on Bailey Cove, where the new library sits, and connected to an another old valley road, Four Mile Post, also still in use today. John and William Blevins began purchasing land in the area in 1809 and over the next decade became prominent residents.
A good history can be found in Nancy Rohr's article, "Blevins Gap: A Road Less Traveled" published in the Historic Huntsville Quarterly V14N4, summer 1988, pp 3-15. A PDF of the issue is available here. Several illustrations of the old road are included. She doesn't discuss the Trail of Tears, but Blevins Gap may have been a route used to move the natives west from Gunter's Landing or Bellefonte.
You can read more about Alabama's place in the Trail of Tears story here, here and here.
Blevins Gap Road is the one to the east outlined on this map. The road now leads to the Blevins Gap Nature Preserve, a 1086-acre natural area with numerous trails in south Huntsville.
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