The NCTOTA Chapter met on Saturday, June 3 at the St. John’s Episcopal Church for the post-Removal community of Sand Town’s sign dedication held on the church property. This is also the site of Sand Town (Nvyohi) headman Jim Woodpecker’s and his wife Sally’s final resting place. Hosted by St. John’s and the NCTOTA, 144 attendees were welcomed by the Reverend Carl Southerland. After some Cherokees had escaped or avoided the forced Removal in 1838, an early settler to the area, William Siler, sold land to Woodpecker for the establishment of a new Cherokee town composed of seventeen families along Muskrat Creek. Sand Town became a thriving community until after the Civil War. Two leaders from Sand Town, George Bushyhead and John Jackson, later became instrumental in the formation of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). Special guests included Woodpecker EBCI descendants Monica Wildcatt and Butch Goings, along with many Siler descendants, including Rev. Southerland. After the Cherokee Anthem, performed by Amy West, attendees heard from Jack Baker, the president of the National Trail of Tears Association, and Will Chavez, a Remember the Removal Legacy Rider (1984) and the assistant editor of the Cherokee Phoenix. Six riders from the Cherokee Nation and five from the EBCI attended the sign dedication prior to their leaving on a 950-mile journey by bicycle to retrace the Trail of Tears from New Echota, GA to Tahlequah, OK. Dr. Brett Riggs, NCTOTA Preservation Officer and National Director-at-Large, presented the history of Sand Town to attendees, followed by a blessing at the Woodpecker memorial by Rev. Southerland and Cherokee elder Dr. Tom Belt. The unveiling of the new NCTOTA Sand Town signage immediately followed. We encourage members to visit St. John’s to view NCTOTA’s first sign to commemorate the establishment of post-Removal towns in Western North Carolina.