A pair of experts from MTSU’s Center for Historic Preservation and the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area will discuss the route of the “Trail of Tears” through Murfreesboro in a special lecture set Tuesday, Oct. 27.

Amy Kostine, who serves as Trail of Tears project historian at the Center for Historic Preservation, and Leigh Ann Gardner, TCWNHA interpretive specialist, will speak at 11:30 a.m. Oct. 27 at the Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County.

The center is located just off the Public Square in Murfreesboro at 225 W. College St., and the free public lecture is part of Rutherford County’s annual celebration of October as “Heritage Month.”

Kostine and Gardner’s talk will focus on the Cherokee people’s route through Murfreesboro when they were forced from their lands east of the Mississippi and relocated to present-day Oklahoma as part of a “land exchange” under President Andrew Jackson’s administration.

Kostine will provide a general overview of the Trail of Tears, while Gardner will address how Murfreesboro appeared in 1838, when the Cherokee passed through the area, and what remains on the landscape.

The women are alumnae of MTSU’s public history program.

Attendees are encouraged to bring their lunches to the free discussion, organizers said. Copies of the Tennessee Trail of Tears brochure also will be available.

The Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County is a partnership between Main Street Murfreesboro, the MTSU Center for Historic Preservation, the city of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County Government. The facility is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays.

For more information on activities at the Heritage Center, please call 615-217-8013 or visit www.hcmrc.org.

— Gina E. Fann (gina.fann@mtsu.edu)

This Tennessee map and guide to the Trail of Tears will be part of the discussion Tuesday, Oct. 27, at the Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County. Click on the brochure to see a larger PDF version.