Last updated: October 30, 2023
Place
Cadron Settlement Park
Photo/Aaron Boswell U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Quick Facts
Location:
6200 Hwy. 319, Conway, AR, 72032, sitting on a hill overlooking the Arkansas River just west of Conway.
Significance:
More than 700 Cherokee found themselves stranded here while suffering from a cholera epidemic that killed dozens, many of the children. They camped here for 16 days while deciding how to proceed because of the low water levels. After they buried their dead, they continued to Indian Territory by land.
MANAGED BY:
"Notes of lamentation & woe arose upon the morning air, and the shrieks of the dying. . . . There were three cases of death before breakfast and eleven in all before the sun went down. . . . All are panic struck; and are scatter through the woods building their campfires as remote from each other as their several fears direct them." - Journal of Lt. Joseph Harris
Detachment leader Lt. Joseph Harris contracted cholera along with the Cherokee. He reported that 81 people died on the journey. Half of those who made it to Indian Territory died within the following year from the strain of the journey or complications from cholera, as did Lt. Harris. In 1991, Faulkner County Historical Society identified 44 American Indian graves. They located 36 more that could not be identified as Indian. There are probably still more.
There are two Trail of Tears exhibits at the park and the other excerpts an article in the Arkansas Gazette the following year. Similarly, 700 Cherokee ended their water journey here with sickness rampant, and continued over land to Indian Territory.
Cadron Settlement Park is 99 miles by water from Indian Territory, the end of the Trail of Tears Water Route.
Site Information
Location (6200 Hwy. 319, Conway, AR, 72032, sitting on a hill overlooking the Arkansas River just west of Conway.)
Amenities
The blockhouse and Cherokee Trail of Tears, Boat ramp, hiking trails, restroom, picnic sites, and 2 pavilions.
Safety Considerations
More Site Information
Exhibit Audio Description Available
Trail of Tears National Historic Trail
Trail of Tears: Arkansas River Water Route Itinerary
You can visit multiple Water Route sites on the Arkansas River by following the Trail of Tears: Arkansas River Water Route Itinerary. Each site features one aspect or story about the Cherokee and Creek experience traveling the Trail of Tears by water, highlighting the challenges and complexities that arose daily on the Arkansas River.