During the harsh winter of 1838-1839, more than 1,400 Cherokee men, women, and children from Peter Hildebrand's detachment spent two bitterly cold weeks camped in this area. The detachments ahead of them had crossed the icy Ohio River but were trapped between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and while waiting for the Mississippi River to thaw, all Cherokee detachments in the area were at a standstill and at the mercy of the weather. Hildebrand's detachment camped for miles along the road here until they could continue traveling west to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma.