The Zuraw Wagon, the only known surviving wagon from the Cherokee Indians’ historic Trail of Tears, will be displayed at Dollywood throughout the park’s Harvest Celebration (Sept. 26-Nov. 1) as part of a living showcase of Native American life.

As a special gift to the Museum of the Cherokee, the park’s Valley Carriage Works wagon makers are building a replica of the Zuraw Wagon. Upon completion, the replica will be presented by Dollywood to the Museum of the Cherokee for display at the facility located in Cherokee, NC. [Full Story]

Description: Pennsylvania Dutch freight wagon of Doubletree assembly

Origin: late 1700s

Other references: Tar Grinder (wooden wheel hubs were lubricated with a tar-like substance made from pine tree sap)

Overall length: 9 feet 6 inches

Overall height (from wagon bed to top of bows): 60 inches

Back wheel diameter: 48 inches

Front wheel diameter: 36 inches (an iron patch was added in repair, so one front wheel is actually 37 inches)

Height of bows from bottom to top: 48 inches

Height of wagon side (bottom part): 21 inches

Wooden axles: 41 inches

Other parts: hand-forged iron (including nails) Wooden hubs with iron rim on outside

First recognized owner: Green B. Daves (1803-1880). A North Carolina native, Daves moved to Sevierville, Tennessee as a child. As an adult, he moved to Fannin County, Georgia. Daves contracted with the U.S. Army to move the Cherokees from Georgia on the Trail of Tears. Upon his death, it was passed to his son, Joseph Daves (1831-1908).

Later owners: Alice A. Daves (1867-1948), Joseph’s daughter, married John Landon Pickelsimer (1864-1956) and later moved to Cartersville, Georgia. Their son John Winfred inherited the wagon upon John Landon’s death in 1956. When John Winfred moved from Cartersville to Atlanta, he gave the wagon to Retta Pickelsimer Zuraw, daughter of James Everett Pickelsimer, the brother of John Landon Pickelsimer. In 1975, Zuraw donated the wagon to the Foxfire Museum & Center.