Last updated: October 12, 2023
Place
Shiloh Museum of History
Quick Facts
Location:
118 W. Johnson Avenue, Springdale, Arkansas, adjacent to the Razorback Greenway.
Significance:
The Shiloh Museum educates Ozarks history including what life was like during the 19th century and Indian Removal through a mixture of museum spaces and historic buildings and equipment moved to the site.
Designation:
Certified Site
MANAGED BY:
The Shiloh Museum campus is on a section of the Military Road (also called Old Missouri Road), which ran from Springfield, Missouri to Fort Smith, Arkansas. Both the B. B. Cannon (1837) and the Richard Taylor (1839) detachments of Cherokees traveled on the Military Road and passed by the present-day museum site on their way west to Indian Territory.
Those traveling in the 1837 Cannon group were part of the Treaty Party, the minority of Cherokees who supported a treaty made with the U. S. government without full Cherokee consent. The Cannon detachment was one of three organized and supervised by the U. S. government. Unlike the later detachments whose removal was involuntary, the Cannon party requested and received a military escort to move earlier.
The 1839 Taylor detachment of Cherokees was one of the detachments organized and removed under the supervision of the Cherokee Nation and there are records of their time in this area. This was the forced removal known as the Trail of Tears, 1838-1839. Several other detachments probably travelled this same route on their way to various disbandment locations in the Indian Territory.
Site Information
Location (118 W. Johnson Avenue, Springdale, Arkansas, adjacent to the Razorback Greenway.)
Amenities
The family-friendly and accessible museum offers a comfortable indoor exhibit space, gift shop, and space used for community meetings, presentations, and special programs. There are exhibits about American Indians, including the Trail of Tears. There are benches outside and historic structures to explore. The Museum is a certified Trail of Tears Historic Trail Site and is adjacent to a Trail of Tears route and the Razorback Regional Greenway.
Safety Considerations
More Site Information
Trail of Tears National Historic Trail
Trail of Tears: Northwest Arkansas Itinerary
This site is on the Old Wire Road Itinerary which helps the public explore Trail of Tears sites in northwest Arkansas. Each site features one aspect or story about the Cherokee experience traveling the Trail of Tears in this area as they approach the end of their journey and arrive in Indian Territory (today’s Oklahoma).