Please join us once again on the De Soto National Forest as we survey as small section of woods along what was once the Old Federal Road! The road and its ferry were utilized by the military for the movement of troops during the later stages of the War of 1821 at the battle of New Orleans in 1815. Waves of settlers also used the road on their search for new lands in the Mississippi Territory, an area that served as the border between the United States and Spanish Territory until the 1820s. This season, we will survey using shovels, screens and metal detectors in an effort to locate objects and features associated with the old road itself, traces of early 1800s travel, ferry remains, and structures associated with family habitation. We'll be working on a wooded strip of Forest Service land, and we'll be walking long distances through the thick woods, not on permanent trails. It will be a tough hike in places, and supplies and equipment will have to be packed in, but it will all be worth it! We hope to see you this fall for another "hike into the past!"
