May 2023 Meeting - The Buffalo Trace National Monument Project
Our program for the recent May meeting focused on the Buffalo Trace and efforts underway to preserve the rich link to our Hoosier heritage. Thanks Dave Drake, Steve Stewart and Rick Hockett for a most interesting presentation.
About The Project
The Buffalo Trace has been known by a lot of different names over the years. Vincennes Trace, Old Indian Road, Clarksville Trace, Harrison’s Road, Kentucky Road, and the Louisville Trace. Pre-contact, Buffalo Trace was called Lenaswihkanawea or “buffalo road”. Used by Native Americans for centuries, the Buffalo Trace was an important route for early European settlers and played a key role in Indiana’s settlement and development.
It is David Drake and Steven Stewart's intention to preserve this landmark as a heritage project. They are working at making the Buffalo Trace a national trail through the federal Hoosier Forest for hikers and visitors to marvel at the path their ancestors took. Richard (Rick) Hockett is the third primary member of the group and a retired professional Geologist. Rick is currently working with Arc-Gis (a GIS mapping system/software) to record the location data. Once finished, they will have a modern data set of the physical, geological, and historical information. John Anslinger and Lisa Hendrixson also serve the group as Historical Researchers.
With his career study of surveying methods, in 2013 Drake took it upon himself to perform a new survey of the old Buffalo Trace, spending several years searching for its path through the Hoosier forest. Following old maps, he walked through the Hoosier, standing on the original trail his ancestors used to cross the Ohio River. His ancestors came from Virginia, stopping in Kentucky for a couple years, then moving on to Indiana, Drake described, making their stop about 1823. In this survey, Drake covered Dubois, Crawford and Harrison counties, as the road originally brought many pioneers from great distances to many local areas.
(Click on the image below to see a larger version of this plat map.)
As Stewart grew up in Orange County, he didn't know he lived alongside significant history. He had only known the Buffalo Trace as an old road that ran by his house but was naive about how it was formed. Once he made the discovery about its deep history, he was hooked.
They are working to build a cultural center and national monument to the Trace. "The trail has potential for national designation," Stewart said. Collaboration with parks and interest groups in the area can make this happen, he said.
Our group hopes to publish a broader work covering the entire trace in the coming years. Orange County is right in the middle of the trace and its important history to our state. Orange County holds the majority of the remaining segments of the original trace. This in itself is most significant.
For additional information please contact
David Drake - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Steven Stewart - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.