National Trail of Tears Association - National park

Visit the Trail

Located at the National Park Service web site, the “Places to Go” page provides a partial listing of the official certified sites along the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. The National Park Service certifies properties associated with the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, including historic properties, trail segments, and interpretive centers. Each site listing has information about that individual site, with hyperlinks to those sites’ web pages that have one.

Certified Sites

Illinois

Missouri

Federal Protection Components and Interpretive Sites

Under the provisions of the National Trails System Act, trail sites and segments on non-federal land become part of the national historic trail only if the owner asks that their property be certified by the National Park Service. Certification is accomplished by a simple written agreement between the owner/manager and the National Trails System Office – Santa Fe in which both agree to cooperate to protect trail resources and to make the trail site or segment available for some degree of public use. Certification agreements are completely voluntary. Certified sites may display the official Trail of Tears National Historic Trail logo and are eligible for financial assistance and technical assistance from the National Park Service for resource management and protection, visitor use development, and interpretation.