The next meeting of the Georgia Chapter of the Trail of Tears Association will be held on Saturday, July 12, 2008 at 10:30 a.m. at the Sweetwater Creek State Park Interpretive Center in Lithia Springs. The speaker will be Michael Wren, researcher, historian and GA TOTA member.

Only minutes from downtown Atlanta, Sweetwater Creek State Park is best known for the ruins of a textile mill burned during the Civil War. The employees of the New Manchester Manufacturing Company were taken prisoner, forced out of Georgia and moved as far north as Ohio and Indiana. Since most of the men were off fighting in the war, the employees were mainly women and children. They had to promise to not return to Georgia until the war had ended. If they refused to make that promise, they were kept captive until the war was over. Some who went north were never heard from again. The park’s Interpretive Center/Museum is only a few years old and one of the most environmentally friendly buildings in the world. It has received the highest certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The Trail of Tears Association and its major partner, the National Park Service, are dedicated to identifying and preserving sites associated with the removal of Native Americans from the Southeast. We are also committed to educating the public about this tragic period in our country’s history. The TOTA was created to support the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail established by an act of Congress in 1987. The Association consists of nine state chapters representing the nine states that the Cherokee and other tribes traveled through on their way to present-day Arkansas and Oklahoma.

You need not be a member to attend our chapter meetings nor have Indian heritage, just an interest and desire to learn more about this fascinating subject. There is no fee to attend. For more information about the TOTA, visit the National website at www.nationaltota.org or the Georgia Chapter website at www.gatrailoftears.org. For questions about the TOTA or the July meeting, contact Linda Baker at 770-704-6338 . For directions to the Park, call 770-732-5876 or visit www.gastateparks.org.