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Finding a Hidden Treasure
How did the National Park Service find the Brown's Ferry Federal Road trace, a small portion of a larger road network that radiated throughout the United States and its territories?
With the road hidden by the dense undergrowth of trees and brush around you, it was not as easy as you might think.
Researches collected digital data through a variety of methods, including LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), a laser-generated model using an airplane. They overlaid the information on an 1863 United States Coast Survey (USCS) map, creating a three dimensional model of the ground on which the Brown's Ferry Federal Road crossed.
Through this combination of history, archaeology, and science you are now able to follow a small portion of the same route the Cherokee were forced to traverse on the Trail of Tears and the Union soldiers marched along during the Civil War. |