Tennessee State Route 60, which formerly crossed the river at the ferry, connects the area to Cleveland to the east, Dayton to the west, and Decatur to the north.

[1] In 1836, the Treaty of New Echota was ratified, transferring all Cherokee lands east of the Mississippi River to the United States.

The treaty called for a general relocation of the Cherokee Nation to the Indian Territory (modern Oklahoma).

In 1838, President Martin Van Buren ordered General Winfield Scott to round up all Cherokees who had not voluntarily made the trek to Oklahoma and commence a forced removal.

By the Fall of that year, some 9,000 Cherokee and 300 Creek had been imprisoned in stockades in Bradley County, a few miles to the east.