Adventure into Chickasaw History with AYA

AYA takes you places where history happened and introduces the people who lived it. When you take a walk with your AYA partner, you will embark on a journey through the history of the Chickasaw people. Your partner will lead you to significant locations and provide you with the inside story of who, what, when, why and how at points of interest along the way.

One of your virtual stops will be Cotton Gin Port, Mississippi, where you will learn about a once bustling town now reduced to an overgrown ghost town on the banks of the Tombigbee River. Here, Chickasaw leader Ittawamba Minko (Levi Colbert) had a trading stand, a school and a cotton gin built by the U.S. government for the thriving Chickasaw cotton farms in the Homeland before Removal. The town was once a major port on the river for trade, but it was abandoned to the forests of Mississippi a few decades after Removal.

You will also visit places like the Mississippi swamp that our Chickasaw ancestors crossed during the Removal. This journey was slow and filled with hazards, with the trek through the swamp taking several days to pass through the insect and snake-infested waters, where they lost wagons and property along the way.

 

 

 

AYA will also take you to the "Queen City of the Chickasaw Nation," Purcell, Indian Territory, and tell you the history of the "iron horse road" coming into Indian Territory in the 1890s. Because of the foresight of Chickasaw leaders and their insistence that the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad maintain a hub within the Chickasaw Nation boundaries, Purcell became a railroad town that was home to one of the famous Harvey House restaurants.

Finally, you will visit the banks of Pennington Creek in Johnston County, Oklahoma, where Chickasaw leaders gathered in 1856 to draft a constitution and form a government for the new Chickasaw Nation that began in Indian Territory. This meeting was crucial in determining Chickasaw sovereignty and establishing control of the destiny of the Chickasaw people for all future years.

AYA Takes You on a Thrilling Journey to Fitness

 If you are not an AYA user, download the app and start walking with us today. If you are already an AYA user, be sure you are getting the most out of your fitness journey with us by using all the features in the app. You can learn about all AYA’s features and answer questions about how the app works by visiting AYAWalk.com.

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Make your fitness journey more successful by walking every day with AYA.  

Anowa chipisala'cho (until we meet again),

- The AYA Walk Team