Steelville, Missouri is located along the Northern Route of the Trail of Tears where thousands of Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), and their enslaved people camped during the forced removal of Native people from the southeastern United States.

This episode introduces Archaeologist Erin Whitson, the first in her field to focus on finding and interpreting historic encampment sites along the Trail of Tears to learn what the experience was like for people walking the path westward.