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News • Arkansas • United States • 2012-01-26

Heritage Trails Project highlights historic trails throughout Arkansas

Have you seen the new compass signs in your area for a Heritage Trail? Hundreds of the signs are already up around south Arkansas and more are on the way, all part of a program that will give you the chance to drive a little history.

The Heritage Trails System Act, or Act 728 of the 87th General Assembly’s Regular Session, aims to promote and recognize key routes through our state that shaped our past. Four trail maps have been identified:

The Southwest Trail, the first federally sponsored road in the state, which four-fifths of Arkansas’s population used to enter the territory in the early 19th century;

The Trail of Tears, which maps the paths of five tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole) following the passage of the Federal Indian Removal Act of 1830;

The Butterfield Trail, the original path of the Butterfield Overland Mail route; and

The Civil War Trails, which follow the historic routes of Union and Confederate forces during key campaigns throughout the state.

The project has been a joint effort by the Department of Arkansas Heritage, the Department of Parks and Tourism and the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.

Mark Christ with the Department of Arkansas Heritage says matching trail paths to highways was tricky. “Our part in the process was to calculate where each of those routes would be.” Christ says GPS was used to match trails to highways as closely as possible.

The Department of Parks and Tourism created a website and a brochure from the information, available to motorists who wish to follow these new trails. The Highway and Transportation Department then fabricated the signs and are currently in the process of installing them.

Now 500 of the 2500 signs for Heritage Trails have been placed around the state. The markers are already up along several routes in southern Arkansas.

For more information, check out www.arkansasheritagetrails.com.

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