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In this episode of the underview, we sit down with John McLarty—geographer, regional planner, and longtime researcher with the Arkansas Chapter of the Trail of Tears Association. Over the past two decades, John has helped uncover and preserve the routes, burial sites, and stories of the Trail of Tears that run directly through Northwest Arkansas. From his early work mapping the Butterfield Stagecoach Route to the creation of the Heritage Trail Plan, John shares how trails became more than paths—they became a framework for truth-telling and remembrance.

This conversation reveals the complexity of the Trail of Tears: its legal battles, forced detachment marches, geographic logic, and the heartbreak experienced by the Cherokee and other Indigenous peoples as they were removed from their homelands. Together, we trace the footsteps of history through Pea Ridge, Fitzgerald Station, Cane Hill, and the ridgelines of the Ozarks. More than history, this is a call to responsibility—an invitation to remember, to preserve, and to ensure that these stories remain a visible part of the land and the identity of Northwest Arkansas.

https://www.theunderview.com/episodes/the-underview-trail-of-tears-arkansas-john-mclarty

About the underview:

The underview is an exploration of the development of our Communal Theology of Place viewed through the medium of bikes, land, and people to discover community wholeness.

Website: ⁠⁠theunderview.com⁠⁠
Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠@underviewthe
Host: @mikerusch

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