Radar testing set for Tuscumbia Landing

SHEFFIELD - Ground-penetrating radar testing is the next step toward an interpretive center at Tuscumbia Landing.

The center would be dedicated to the landing's role in the Trail of Tears, which was the forced removal of American Indians from the region.

"We're undergoing the last phase of getting the archeological project finalized with the state Department of Transportation," said Gail King, executive director of the Southeastern Anthropological Institute at Northwest-Shoals Community College.

King said the department of transportation will need to sign off on allowing Kent Snyder, of The Archeology Store, to begin ground-penetrating radar testing on approximately seven acres of the landing site. The radar will determine what is underneath the historic site.

The center would not only be dedicated to the Trail of Tears, but the Civil War, early Shoals industry and the Tuscumbia, Courtland and Decatur Railroad.

King said records indicate that Cherokee children died at Tuscumbia Landing and were buried there.

Many groups of American Indians came to Tuscumbia Landing to board boats on their way to Oklahoma during their forced removal. She said there could also be Civil War soldiers buried on the site.

"The ground-penetrating radar will pick up the graves," King said.

The institute needs to determine where any graves might be before moving forward with plans for the interpretive center.

The testing and a laser scanning of the landing's physical features, such as the old train depot, the railroad bed and other early structures, will be funded with money from a $104,660 Transportation Enhancement Grant through the state department of transportation.

LandAir Surveying will conduct the laser scanning from the air, King said. That work will take place in the fall or winter.

The grant also will fund a complete historical report on the site that King will produce.

King said the testing and historical analysis is needed to seek further funding for the interpretive center itself.

King said representatives of the National Park Service National Historic Trails Office will be visiting Tuscumbia Landing in October.

Last week, the great-great-granddaughter of Chilly MacIntosh, a Creek Indian who led several parties of Creeks to Oklahoma about 10 years before the Trail of Tears event of the 1830s, toured the historic site.

Billie Jane MacIntosh said her great-great-grandfather recalled how well the people of Tuscumbia treated the Creeks when they came through during the early 1800s on their way from Georgia to Oklahoma.

MacIntosh said the Creeks chose to leave their homelands because of the increase in settlers. She said they feared their tight-knit tribes might be pulled apart and lose their identity. Instead of staying, they decided to move west.

MacIntosh said the Creeks also realized that forced relocation could be coming.

"I'm glad to see (the place) where Chilly left with his group on the boat," MacIntosh said.

Russ Corey can be reached at 740-5738 or russ.corey@TimesDaily.com.