Today , the road running in front of Fitzgerald Station is called Old Wire Road , paying homage to the telegraph lines that eventually supplanted the horse-powered mail delivery of the Butterfield Trail . Highway 265 runs along Old Wire Road near the property , and roughly follows the original stage route of the 1850s . The trail has been recognized as a segment of the Butterfield Trail and the Trail of Tears ( Northern Route ) within the Arkansas Heritage Trails Network , as well as the Trail of Tears within the National Historic Trail System . The University of Arkansas and Arkansas Archaeological Survey conducted a remote sensing survey using magnetic gradiometry and electric resistivity in an attempt to locate the historic tavern , log cabin house , or original wagon path through the property . The group believed that the log cabin and tavern were located where the 1870s house was constructed , and the results were inconclusive for the original location of the aforementioned . An excavation commenced in February 2005 , in which it was determined that the soil cut to form the house 's basement was spread throughout the site . A midden strata was encountered , as well as several fragments of broken whiteware , consistent with a tavern
Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Fitzgerald Station and Farmstead