I live in the Appalachians mountains on the Ky Tn Va border area near the Cumberland Gap and Pennington Gap. I could be in any of the 3 states within about 20 minutes or so.
My roots can be traced back to Cherokee and Creek tribes. More Cherokee than Creek, but they didn't really keep records back then and it's mostly oral history.
Since none of my immediate family ever put their names in any of the indian rolls that the gov't did because of the distrust of them, there is little way to prove any of it other than direct ancestry, but my family were able to avoid the gov't roundup and march out west on the trail of tears. They just pulled back deeper into the woods than the army was willing to go and look for them in an attempt to be left alone and live how they always did and after a couple of generations, here I am.