Courtesy Cherokee Nation
Remember the Removal Bike Ride Elder Ambassador and Cherokee Nation citizen Sammy Houseberg leads the cyclists to the Cherokee Nation Courthouse as they complete the 950-mile trek.

The 2016 Remember the Removal Bike Ride cyclists rolled onto the Cherokee Nation Courthouse lawn Thursday, June 23 officially ending their 950-mile journey retracing the Trail of Tears.

Eight Cherokee Nation cyclists and seven Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian riders traveled seven states starting June 5 to honor their Cherokee ancestors who were forced to make the trek on foot more than 175 years ago. […] The cyclists started in New Echota, Georgia, and traveled over three weeks across Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas to arrive in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

“This ride is an amazing journey. It’s vigorous and challenging, and I feel like we are taking away a family bond and a better sense of our tribe’s history, culture and ancestry,” said 2016 Remember the Removal cyclist and Cherokee Nation citizen Blayn Workman. “Because of this experience, I can also now tell others about what actually happened on the Trail of Tears. In school, you don’t learn about where they stopped along the trail or why they stopped or how many died, so now I can help further other people’s knowledge about the trail just as the ride helped further my knowledge.”

The cyclists visited various gravesites and historic landmarks significant to the history of the Trail of Tears, including Blythe Ferry in Tennessee, which was the last piece of Cherokee homeland the ancestors stood on before beginning the trek to Indian Territory. Riders visited Mantle Rock in Kentucky, which provided shelter to the ancestors as they waited for the Ohio River to thaw in order to cross safely, and also stopped to pray at Shellsford Cemetery in Tennessee, where Cherokees who died on the route are buried in unmarked graves.

2016 Remember the Removal Bike Ride participant and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians citizen Jack Cooper hugs his mother Jill after completing the 950-mile bike ride. (Courtesy Cherokee Nation)

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The Cherokee Nation started the ride in 1984 as a leadership program and so that Cherokee youth would never forget the hardships of their Cherokee ancestors. Of the estimated 16,000 forced to make the journey to Indian Territory, approximately 4,000 died due to exposure, starvation and disease.

For the first time since the program began, participants received three hours of college credit from Northeastern State University after completion of the ride. Also, the U.S. National Park Service awarded a copy5,000 grant to the Remember the Removal Bike Ride for cyclists to promote the national parks along the trail.

The 2016 Remember the Removal Bike Ride included the following:

Cherokee Nation

Amicia Craig, 24, Tahlequah

Stephanie Hammer, 24, Tahlequah

Nikki Lewis, 23, Tahlequah

Kelsey Girty, 21, Warner

Amber Anderson, 23, Warr Acres

Kylar Trumbla, 23, Proctor

Blayn Workman, 16, Muldrow

Glendon VanSandt, 16, Siloam Springs

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

Marisa Cabe, 49, Wolfetown, North Carolina

Cole Saunooke, 16, Yellowhill, North Carolina

Tom Hill, 57, Yellowhill, North Carolina

Tosh Welch, 38, Wolfetown, North Carolina

J.D. Arch, 49, Wolfetown, North Carolina

Jack Cooper, 15, Birdtown, North Carolina

Aaron Hogner, 31, Wolfetown, North Carolina

The Cherokee Nation also had Cherokee Nation citizens Stacy Leeds, Dean of Law at the University of Arkansas, ride as a historian, Vietnam veteran Sammy Houseberg ride as an ambassador and Kevin Jackson ride as a Cherokee Nation marshal and trainer.

The 2016 Remember the Removal Bike Ride is chronicled on Facebook.

ICTMN has the full story.