Amy's Rear View Mirror

Chattanooga, TN ...
9/1 - 9/30

While in Chattanooga I stayed at the Best Holiday Trav-L-Park off TN exit 1 on I-75. The sites are gravel, but level, with plenty of established grass, all the usual amenities and very convenient to restaurants, shopping, and sightseeing. I'd definitely recommend it. There's even history ... over 100 years ago men fought and died on the very soil where the campground is located. In the southwest corner of the park is a monument to the 84th Indiana Volunteer Regiment. Because of the historical past of the land, the campground's north-south streets are named after Civil War Officers with the north end named after Union commanders and the south end named after Confederate generals. Most of these officers participated in the combat around Chattanooga. The remaining streets are named after Civil War Battles.
Now for the sightseeing ...
Stretching from the Chattahoochee River to Moccasin Bend of the Tennessee River, the Western and Atlantic Railroad would be the first to connect the coastal United States with hard to reach territory deep inland. Rossville Landing was designated the end of the railroad in 1837. The following year settlers officially renamed the city to Chattanooga, after the Creek Indian word for Lookout Mountain.
Surrounded by mountains on three sides, the city lay at the end of the Tennessee River Valley. Flooding was a frequent problem. Lookout Mountain overlooks the city from the south. West of the city is Raccoon and Signal Mountains and east of the city is Missionary Ridge.
From Chattanooga's port cotton was shipped to Memphis, however, the trip was difficult especially around Muscle Shoals. Completion of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad ended this market virtually overnight in the mid-1840's,
but by that time other industries had moved to the area, among them a charcoal iron industry, forerunner of Chattanooga's steel mills. One of the earliest 'ironmasters' was Robert Cravens, who built a house on the northern
end of Lookout Mountain, overlooking the city. With the completion of the railroad in 1850 a growth spurt increased Chattanooga's population by 60%. Additionally it became a processing center for the agricultural products grown in the fields of east Tennessee and north Georgia.
During the Civil War, three times the Union Army would fight for this land including The Great Locomotive Chase, the Battle of Chattanooga, the Battle of Chickamauga and the beginning of Sherman's march on Atlanta.
The story of Andrew's Raiders, also known as The Great Locomotive Chase, is my favorite story of the Civil War ...
For more than a year war raged in the fields of Virginia and Tennessee while factories and farms in Georgia produced supplies that fed and clothed the Confederate Army. In the spring of 1862, the quiet of North Georgia was shattered by a group of 22 Union spies on a mission to disrupt Confederate supply lines. The General, an engine owned by the Western and Atlantic Railroad, left Atlanta at 4:00 am on April 12, the first anniversary of the attack on Fort Sumter. At Marietta, GA the raiders boarded the train under the command of James Andrews. When the train stopped for breakfast, the men made off with The General in a daring raid that had been planned the night before at the Fletcher House (now called the Kennesaw House).
Andrews gained the trust of the Confederates by smuggling quinine across the battle lines for a period of several weeks. Using these "friends" he infiltrated Georgia with men skilled in handling locomotives, among them William Knight, a young Kentucky volunteer who had been an engineer before the war. Union General Ormsby Mitchel approved the plan to steal a locomotive and move north on the Western and Atlantic Railroad, destroying track, bridges and tunnels along the way. Mitchel, fighting in North Alabama reasoned that with the W&ARR destroyed Chattanooga could be easily taken. The Union commander agreed to take Huntsville on April 11, 1862, which he did, and wait for Andrews to arrive in Huntsville, AL before advancing on Chattanooga.
The train pulled up to the Lacey Hotel and the passengers and crew walked to the hotel for breakfast. Andrews had selected this as the site to hatch his plot because Big Shanty did not have a telegraph office. The spies stole the
train and began the journey to Huntsville, AL.
The crew of The General had a different idea. Jeff Cain, engineer, and Anthony Murphy, a machine foreman joined conductor William Fuller, who took the theft as a personal affront, as he pursued the raiders. On foot at first, they ran the two miles to Moon's Station, and procured a platform handcar and two members of a maintenance crew to help them pole and push. From here to the Etowah River the track grades slowly but steadily downhill. Two more men jumped on the moving handcar in Acworth, GA.
Andrews, Knight and two other Union spies stayed in the cab while the other 18 men spread across the train. Many Georgians along the route inquired when they saw Fuller's regular train and schedule with a different crew. Andrews
responded by telling the men that he was taking a "powder train" through to General Beauregard, then at Corinth, a believable story since this was a few days after Shiloh.
The pursuers at first thought the men were deserters who had stolen the train to escape, but the rail ties in the roadbed, cut telegraph wires and missing rails convinced them a formidable enemy lay in front of them. In Etowah, GA Fuller took the switch engine Yonah to pursue the raiders. Surprisingly, Andrews did not remove any rails between the river and the
complicated rail yard in Kingston. Delayed by northbound trains, Andrews and Fuller were now less than 10 minutes apart, although the Union spy still did not know his Raiders were being pursued. Abandoning the Yonah, the crew of
the General negotiated the yard on foot, taking the William R. Smith north towards Adairsville, GA. They encountered track torn up by the raiders, abandoned the engine and two of them, Murphy and Fuller, continued the pursuit on foot.
The Texas stopped briefly to drop its freight cars at the Adairsville Depot. Undaunted by the obstacles the raiders laid in the way Fuller and Murphy took a southbound engine, The Texas, at the Adairsville station. The chase was on - The Texas in pursuit of the General at top speed, in reverse! Just north of the city of Calhoun, GA the pursuers spotted the General for the first time. Andrews and Knight considered the situation. A quick attempt by the raiders to raise a rail was fruitless.
Andrews and Knight came up with three options, but the first, crossties dropped from the rear of the General, did not slow the pursuers. Next, with the raiders on the locomotive and coal tender they released two boxcars from the end of the train. The men on the Texas pushed those off on the next siding. Now, approaching the covered wooden bridge over Oostanaula River, Andrews set fire to the remaining car hoping not only to slow the Texas but also burn the bridge. However, wet conditions made it impossible to set the bridge afire. The Texas again pushed the cars off the track and the chase became a test of endurance.
With the telegraph from Atlanta out of service because of the wire cutters employed by the raiders a telegraph operator, 17 year old Edward Henderson, headed south from Dalton, GA in search of the problem. South of Calhoun, GA, Fuller saw the lad, whom he recognized, and pulled onto the moving train. Fuller wrote out a message to General Ledbetter in Chattanooga, TN, warning him of the approach of the captured locomotive. In Dalton, GA the telegraph boy was dropped from the train and he made off to send the message.
The whistle of the pursuers warned towns and soldiers of the approaching chase. But the end was near. Just before the top of Ringgold Gap The General gave out. The locomotive would not have made it much further. The message from Dalton, GA had made it to Chattanooga, TN and Confederates were already on the track traveling south to Ringgold, GA.
The Raiders failed to destroy bridges over Chickamauga Creek or the Etowah River, or the tunnel at Tunnel Hill, their main targets.
Over the next two weeks, Andrews and his men were rounded up by the Confederates. They managed to get as far away as Bridgeport, AL. All 22 men were caught. Of the 14 men sent to Confederate prison 8 escaped in October, 1862 and the remaining 6 were paroled in March, 1863. Andrews and 7 of his men were tried in Atlanta and hung, their bodies buried unceremoniously in an unmarked grave.
Congress created the Medal of Honor in 1862 and awarded it to some of the Raiders. James Andrews, leader of the raiders, was not in the military and therefore not eligible. The bodies of the raiders who had been hung were disinterred from the unmarked grave and buried at Chattanooga National Cemetery. The General survived the episode and the war, continuing in service on the Western and Atlantic and the Louisville and Nashville for another 30 years.
The General, restored in 1961, can be seen at The Kennesaw Civil War Museum in Kennesaw, GA, a stop on the Blue and Gray Trail.
Tunnel Hill History
To connect Atlanta and Chattanooga a tunnel must be dug by the Western and Atlantic Railroad. Plans for the tunnel began in the late 1830's, but a great panic and depression delayed construction for almost 10 years. The railroad provided passenger and freight service during this time, carrying the freight, and letting the passengers walk, over the mountain. A town came to life in the area to service the needs of the passengers from the train and the "sappers" building the tunnel. As unimpressive as it may seem now, this 1477 foot tunnel was the engineering marvel of its time. A plaque at the west end of the tunnel reads:
"The Excavation of the west end begun July 15, 1848 & the first opening
effected Oct. 31, 1848. The first train of cars passed through May 9, 1850.
Length of excavation in this end 575 feet and of the tunnel 1477 feet."
There are actually two tunnels in Tunnel Hill, the "new" tunnel was begun in 1926 and completed in 1928 and is 1527 feet long. The tunnel at Tunnel Hill (sometimes called Tunnelsville) remained the centerpiece of the town until it was closed because of structural problems. The new tunnel had been drilled and the older tunnel fell into disuse. On May 9, 2000, the 150th anniversary, the tunnel was reopened for a few hours. A park, constructed on the original right-of-way gives visitors access to the engineering marvel of 1850.
In 1852 Colonel James Whiteside built a road from the north end of Lookout Mountain to his property at the top, then called Point Lookout. The ride up took four hours in a buggy with a good horse, but the view was stunning. In 1857 Col. Whiteside added a hotel that was destroyed during the Civil War.
The Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Battlefield Park commemorates the Battle of Chickamauga and the Battle of Chattanooga. The park office houses the Fuller Gun Collection containing 355 weapons.
In 1863 Union General William "Old Rosy" Rosecrans and Confederate General Braxton Bragg maneuver for position on the road to Chattanooga. On top of Lookout Mountain, Bragg's superior defensive position is a problem. Rosecrans regroups west of Chattanooga and moves toward the city from Bridgeport, Alabama, in early September. However, Rosecrans does not want to challenge Bragg's control of the mountain. Old Rosy looks to flank Bragg. Moving through gaps in the ridge south of Lookout Mountain Rosecrans forces Bragg to withdraw from Chattanooga and protect his supply line. On September 9th Union troops under the command of General Thomas L. Crittenden occupy the city without a fight and Bragg regroups near the town of LaFayette, Georgia. In a serious tactical error, Rosecrans decides to continue the chase instead of regrouping in Chattanooga. Unaware that Bragg is concentrating his men in LaFayette, and being resupplied and reinforced, Rosecrans continues to move towards his objective, the Western and Atlantic Railroad.
He orders his troops to meet at Chickamauga Creek, 12 miles south of Chattanooga, and some distance away from the main force of Confederates. Or so he thought. Bragg attacks the Union troops on September 19 and what ensues is the bloodiest two days in American History, the Battle at Chickamauga also known as 'River of Blood'.
The scene of the battle was one where neither Bragg nor William Rosecrans wanted to fight. The thick forest limited visibility to 150 feet, less than the range of a rifle. Cannon were useless, except in the occasional field that broke the heavy forest. Battle lines did not exist and enlisted men made tactical decisions. Often the fighting was hand-to-hand. Both generals realized that neither would come out a clear winner under these conditions. Yet, just as at Gettysburg, the field on which the men fought was not the choice of generals but the choice of fate.
The Rebels could hear the Federals cutting trees. As Rebel troops advanced the Federal line crumbled on both sides. Caught unsuspectingly by oncoming graybacks, Rosecrans and two senior officers disgracefully fled the battlefield. Only General Thomas remained.
Enlisted Union soldiers ran in any direction that they didn't see gray. Issuing orders from horseback directly to retreating soldiers, General Thomas withdrew his men. To protect the men as they withdrew, Col. John Wilder ordered his Lightning Brigade to attack. The cavalry, armed with Spencer repeating rifles, slowed Longstreet's advance long enough for Thomas to reform his line. Repeated Rebel assaults could not break the thin blue line Thomas constructed. For his bravery, Thomas became known as "The Rock of Chickamauga."
His career destroyed, Old Rosy issued a telegram from Chattanooga to his superiors in Washington saying, "We have met with a serious disaster...we have no certainly of holding our position here." A second wire to the beleaguered Thomas instructed him to withdraw to Chattanooga.
An interesting footnote: Rosecrans' Chief of Staff left the battlefield with the General and decided to accompany Rosecrans until he was safe. When they reached Rossville Gap, Rosecrans continued on to his headquarters in
Chattanooga while his Chief of Staff headed back to the fighting. Twenty-five years later that man, General James A. Garfield, was elected President of the United States.
Lookout Mountain is more than 1200 feet above the valley and is surrounded on three sides by a near vertical rock
wall that has afforded protection to the occupants at the top for hundreds of years. The mountain is known for a unique weather phenomenon. Sometimes, after a clear dawn, a layer of fog descends toward the valley below, stopping about halfway down the peak. This inverted fog has been written about since the first whites visited the area sometime before 1735. It was on a fateful day, November 24, 1863, that this weather anomaly set in, creating the most poetic name for any battle in the American Civil War, The Battle Above the Clouds.
During the battle of Chattanooga, both the Union and Confederate armies used Cravens' home as an observation post and headquarters. During the evening of November 23, 1863 Major General Carter Stevenson [CS] signaled General Braxton Bragg [CS] from Cravens House, indicating a possible federal attack on Lookout Mountain. The message was decoded by the Union Army and General George Thomas [US] ordered an attack on the mountain because of the Rebels concern.
A few days after the battle of Chickamauga the Army of Tennessee retook Lookout Mountain and used it as an observation post and to fire on Chattanooga. Confederate artillery from Point Lookout was largely in effective. After the Union Army successfully completed the "cracker line" the position became a target. Moving 12,000 men west of Chattanooga, General Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker [US] turns south and encountered 1200 rebels spread out along Lookout Creek under the command of Carter Stevenson. Ordered to "fall back fighting" the Rebels withdraw towards the northern face of Lookout Mountain under the cover of artillery positioned at the peak of the mountain. The only heavy fighting takes place at Cravens House, a level plateau at the sheer north slope of the mountain. Three brigades of Rebels successfully form a line against three Federal divisions and actually launch a counterattack.
General Braxton Bragg orders Stevenson to withdraw and join him on Missionary Ridge for the battle to come in the morning. Hooker takes the mountain with 629 causalities and only 81 deaths. Although no fighting actually took place in Point Park a Confederate artillery battery did fire on Union soldiers, who were sweeping the mountainside. The home sustained minor damage during the fighting, it was later destroyed by Union soldiers during a drunken brawl.
Point Park was completed in 1905 to commemorate the "Battle Above the Clouds" as part of the Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park. Land on the mountainside, acquired by the publisher of the Chattanooga Times, Adolph S. Ochs, from Col. Whiteside's family and the family of Robert Cravens comprised a significant portion of the Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park on Lookout Mountain, although it is not technically part of Point Park. Ochs then donated the land to the government for the memorial. Cravens House is also a part of the park. Inside Point Park are numerous monuments to the men who fought and died. A small museum at the Ochs Overlook houses items of interest for Civil War buffs.

The Bluff Furnace historic site is an archeological site of the first coke-fired blast in the southern Appalachian iron-producing region, originally built in 1854 as a charcoal-fired hot blast furnace. In 1859 it was converted to burn processed coal or coke. When put into blast in 1860 it was the first to use coke in the region. Because coke was a more efficient fuel than charcoal it allowed for larger stacks this in turn allowed for a larger amount of iron to be recovered from the ore. During the Civil War, occupation of Chattanooga by Federal troops resulted in demolition of all structures on the site except the lower portion of the stack. By the end of the war all traces of the above ground portion of the plant had been destroyed or buried.
Robert Cravens returned to Chattanooga after the Civil War. His home and business destroyed, near financial ruin, and nearing the age of 60 he began anew, rebuilding an empire of iron. He introduced coke-fired iron processing to the area in 1868. Located near the natural resources needed to make iron, and later, steel, Chattanooga grew on the strength of its production. The charcoal and coke-fired smelters that turned out 150,000 tons of iron in 1870 were producing 1.8 million tons of pig iron in 1890. By 1890 there were machine shops, boiler shops, plow makers, stove works, and at least 2 pipe manufacturers within the city limits, and the city was known as the "Pittsburg of the South."
Following the Civil War, development on Lookout Mountain was minimal. The four-hour trip up Whiteside Pike, a toll road, discouraged many people, and the two-dollar toll discouraged the rest. However, many people were interested at visiting the peak, in part due to the romanticized "Battle Above the Clouds" that occurred on the mountain during The Civil War.
During the railroad boom of the 1880's, speculators decided to develop a hotel on the mountaintop serviced by a narrow gauge railroad that would run up the mountain. A second, broad-gauge line and an earlier incline also competed for passengers.
On November 16, 1895 the railroad known today simply as "The Incline" opened, rising up the steepest part of Lookout Mountain. Built by John Crass and the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway Company this technical marvel boasted an incline of 72.7% at one point, making it the steepest passenger Incline in the world. Literally millions of residents and tourists have taken this ride up to the top of Lookout Mountain. By 1900 the success of this railway closed down all of its competitors.
Originally the cars were made of wood and powered by huge coal-burning steam engines. Electric power was used after 1911, and it now uses two 100 horsepower motors. Today The Incline Railway still attracts people from around the world.
An interesting bit of history surrounds the architectural drawings and specifications chosen for Terminal Station. In the year 1900, the greatest school of art, Beaux Arts Institute, was located in Paris, France. The students themselves offered a prize that year... open to all individuals in the architectural department... for the best plans which could be drawn up
for a railroad station suitable for the needs of a large city. A flood of plans were drawn up by interested students; and soon railroad stations of every shape and size, big, little, round and square, were presented. The winner was an American, Don Barber, of New York City.
In 1904, when the president of the Southern Railway System decided to build a new passenger terminal in Chattanooga, one architect who offered an entry was none other than this same Mr. Barber. When the Southern Railway president saw Mr. Barber's design, he was very much impressed and summoned the gentleman to his office. He said he felt the exterior plans were perfect but asked Barber if he could possibly alter the interior design to conform with the interior of the then fashionable National Park Bank of New York City. This young man agreed, so that Chattanooga's Terminal Station became a combination of the plans which won Barber the first prize at the Paris Beaux Arts Institute and of the famous New York bank, which had been admired by visitors from all over the world.
Step back into a world of Victorian elegance - the beautifully renovated entrance to Terminal Station. Under the 85 foot free-standing dome, visitors can relive the golden era of the railroads. The Grand Dome of Terminal Station rests on four major steel supports, each of which is 75 feet apart. The dome was made entirely of steel and concrete and securely braced by huge red brick arches. From an architectural standpoint, this dome over the entire 68 by 82 foot general waiting room, was the most attractive design feature of its time. It was on the underside of this dome, the part in view
above the waiting room, that the only attempt to decorate in colors was made....artistic plaster embellishments of heraldic emblems which are now fully restored. The dome was truly lavish and beautiful in its different prismatic colors, especially when lighted at night.
Terminal Station served as the heart of the area's bustling railway activity until trains were replaced in popularity by faster modes of transportation. Almost 61 years after the opening, the old building was closed to the public when the last train stopped on August 11, 1970. Doors and windows were boarded up, and the entire building was vacated by Southern Railway. Dust gathered in its nooks and crannies. But Terminal Station was saved from the wrecking ball by Chattanoogans in 1973. Beautiful Terminal Station once again opened its doors to welcome visitors to Chattanooga - this time as a vacation complex, the Choo Choo Holiday Inn.
The Chattanooga Choo Choo, famous in history and song, is now a restored structure as well. From all over America, "Track 29" leads straight to historic Terminal Station, beautifully restored home of the world famous train.
The first Chattanooga Choo Choo was a passenger train departing Cincinnati, Ohio on March 5th, 1880. Operated by the Cincinnati Southern Railroad, the train was the first to offer through passenger service to the South. Since nearly all trains to points south had to pass through Chattanooga, a newspaper reporter dubbed the huffing and puffing little steam locomotive the Chattanooga Choo Choo -- a bit of phrasing that went down in history.
Completely refurbished, she is the only engine of her kind now in the city. Two similar engines - The "General" of Civil War fame, and the "Best Friend of Charleston" - were for many years in Chattanooga but were put on display elsewhere by their owning railroad companies. However, little was known about the first Chattanooga Choo Choo. Only after Glenn Miller's orchestra made the catchy song popular in the late 1940's did the name become world famous. The song, "Chattanooga Choo Choo", traveled fast throughout Europe during World War II, and today it is an international favorite.
Ruby Falls is America's highest underground waterfall (145 feet) open to the public. The 145 foot waterfall is located over 1100 feet inside Lookout Mountain. The size of the waterfall depends on the amount of rainfall. Water from Ruby
Falls flows back through the cave and then down another waterfall (which is inaccessible) and into the Tennessee River. The story of Ruby Falls begins with the original Lookout Mountain Cave which had a natural entrance on the banks of the Tennessee River at the foot of Lookout Mountain.
The cave was used as a campsite by American Indians, a hideout for outlaws, and a Civil War Hospital. The most significant artifact of the Lookout Mountain Cave is Andrew Jackson's signature. In 1905, the Southern Railway built a railroad tunnel through the edge of Lookout Mountain, which permanently sealed off the natural entrance to the cave.
In 1923, Leo Lambert, a local cave enthusiast, formed a corporation for the purpose of opening the historic Lookout Mountain Cave to the public. Leo Lambert's corporation purchased land on the side of Lookout Mountain above the cave. Then, in 1928, a site for an elevator shaft into the original cave was selected and drilling began. While drilling straight down through solid limestone rock, a small opening was found at the 260 foot level that measured two feet high and four feet wide. Mr. Lambert decided to explore this opening.
After 17 hours, he emerged and described many beautiful rock formations and a spectacular waterfall. During his next trip, Mr. Lambert brought along his wife, Ruby, and named the magnificent waterfall in her honor - "Ruby Falls". Mr. Lambert decided to develop both caves so people would have two caves to visit. The entrance building was modeled after a fifteenth century Irish castle and was constructed from limestone excavated from the elevator shaft.
From 1930 to 1935, tours were offered to both caves, but Ruby Falls proved to be the most popular. In 1935 the original cave was closed to the public. Since 1929, millions of visitors have enjoyed the natural beauty and wonder
of Ruby Falls!
Garnet and Frieda Carter started Rock City in the middle of the Depression, after the failures of their hotel and miniature golf franchise. They hired Clark Byers to paint "See Rock City" on any structure large enough to be seen from a highway. The signs were a promotional gimmick that dramatically increased the number of visitors.
By the time World War II broke out the attraction had become a major stop for tourists in the southeast United States. Of course, the gas rationing and war effort significantly impacted Garnet and Frieda, but Rock City survived. During the post-war baby boom era, Frieda and Garnet came up with Fairyland Caverns to make the attraction appealing to children. Holes were carved in the rock and fairy tale characters enacted popular scenes.
By 1960 Rock City was so famous that Life Magazine featured it on the cover. In the 1960's Mother Goose Village was added to further enhance the appeal to children. This large building made of rock has an immense re-creation of the Mother Goose nursery rhymes. Since the death of Garnet (1954) and Frieda (1964) ownership of the attraction has remained in the family.
Many of the barn signs are now gone and many of those that remain are on the National Register of Historic Places.
Many of the buildings are made of stone, which adds to the aura of the attraction. Even parking is in a stone-fenced lot, with stones at the top of the parking spaces. The mile-long trail winds through several acres of interesting rock formations before coming to the famous swinging bridge that leads to Lover's Leap. If you are uneasy with heights there is a second path on solid ground. At Lover's Leap is Seven States Plaza where, on a clear day, you can see all seven states - TN, AL, GA, NC, KY, VA, SC. There's also High Falls, a 140 foot waterfall.
Inside a mountain near Sweetwater in East Tennessee is a body of water known as The Lost Sea. Listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’ s largest underground lake, the Lost Sea is part of an extensive and historic cave system called Craighead Caverns.
The caverns have been known and used since the days of the Cherokee Indians and is named after Chief Craighead. From the tiny natural opening on the side of the mountain, the cave expands into a series of huge rooms. Nearly
a mile from the entrance, in a room now known as “The Council Room,” a wide range of Indian artifacts including pottery, arrowheads, weapons, and jewelry have been found, testifying to the use of the cave by the Cherokees.
One of the cave's earliest visitors was a giant Pleistocene jaguar whose tracks have been found deep inside the cave. Some 20,000 years ago the animal apparently lost his way in the darkness and wandered for days before plunging into a crevice far from daylight. Some of the bones, discovered in 1939, are now on display in the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Others, along with plaster casts of the tracks, are among the exhibits at the visitor center of the Lost Sea.
When the first white settlers arrived in the Tennessee Valley in the 1820’s they also discovered the cave and used it for storing potatoes and other vegetables. The constant 58° temperature provided an ideal refrigeration system for food.
During the Civil War the Confederate Army mined the cave for saltpeter, a commodity necessary to the manufacture of gunpowder. A diary of the period reveals the intriguing story of a Union spy who penetrated the guarded cave and nearly succeeded in blowing up the mining operation before he was captured. He was, according to the diary, shot near the large gum tree at the cave entrance.
Throughout the early history there were consistent rumors of a large underground lake somewhere deep within the cave, but it was not actually discovered until 1905. In that year a 13-year-old boy named Ben Sands wiggled through the tiny, muddy opening 300 feet underground and found himself in a huge room half filled with water. The room was so large that his light was swallowed up by the darkness long before reaching the far wall or the ceiling. For the rest of his life Sands delighted in describing how he threw mudballs as far as he could into the blackness and heard nothing
but splashes in every direction.
The full extent of the Lost Sea is still not known despite the efforts of teams of divers armed with modern exploration equipment. The visible portion of the lake is 800 feet long by 220 feet wide and is up to 70 feet deep. Glass-bottomed boats powered by electric motors carry visitors into the lake, which is stocked with some of the largest Rainbow trout in North America.
Beneath the calm waters of the four-and-a-half acre lake divers have discovered an even larger series of rooms completely filled with water. More than 13 acres of water have been mapped so far and still no end to the lake has been found. One diver ventured into the water-filled rooms with a sonar device. Hugging the wall to assure his ability to find his way back, he took soundings in all directions and found nothing but more water.
In 1915 the idea of developing the cave for the public was conceived. A dance floor was installed in one of the large upper rooms. Cockfights were another frequent activity in the cave. Meanwhile, other portions of the vast system were being utilized by moonshiners to produce that famous brew for which the mountains are famous.
In 1947 the cave was leased for the purpose of operating a 'Cavern Tavern'. The old dance floor was torn out and a new one installed. Drinking was heavy and participants found that they did not recognize the symptoms of intoxication in cool, humid air, until they began to climbing the steps leading out of the cave only to become wobbly and sometimes even pass out.
In 1963 Van Michael began promoting the development of the Lost Sea. In 1964 the Craighead Caverns Company was formed and development began. In 1965 The Lost Sea opened as a tourist attraction.
In the early 1980's as part of the downtown revitalization, the RiverPark was designed - modeled after the success cities like San Antonio had with creating a tourist attraction based along the river. Then in the 1990-s came the Tennessee Aquarium, I-MAX theater, the Creative Discovery Museum and the Southern Belle riverboat.
The Riverwalk includes several river parks which have fishing piers, a landscaped walkway at the river's edge, meadows, picnic tables and pavilions, a snack bar and bait shop, a playground, and 2 boat launches. The river parks extend for miles on both sides of the Tennessee River. To get from one side to the other you cross on the Walnut Street Bridge. This bridge was slated for demolition after it was closed to vehicle traffic, but preservationists rallied support to save and renovate it since it dates back to 1891. It is the world's longest pedestrian bridge.
Ross Landing, another park on the Riverwalk, is a memorial to the town Rossville Landing, founded by Cherokee Chief John Ross in 1815 which was designated the end of the railroad in 1837. The following year settlers officially renamed the city to Chattanooga, after the Creek Indian word for Lookout Mountain. Chief John Ross was born in the area now known as Rossville GA near Lookout Mountain.
The Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga is the world's largest freshwater aquarium. The Aquarium tells the story of fresh water ecosystems. You follow the Tennessee River from its Appalachian beginnings through the swamp waters of the Mississippi River and into the Gulf of Mexico, making side trips to some of the world's other great rivers. Next door to the Tennessee Aquarium is an IMAX 3D Theater which shows 2 different movies ... Into the Deep about the oceans and one other movie which changes every few months. This month was the Galapagos Islands.
Big River Brewing and Grille Works
The Big River Brewing and Grille Works opened in the heart of Chattanooga in 1993 and is now brewing 1200 barrels of beer annually (served only in draft) and features American Grille style cuisine. This all happens in 90 year old trolley barns with 30 foot ceilings, mahogany, and natural brick walls. The barns, built in 1903, are listed on the National Historic Registry and are the comfortable atmosphere for the restaurant and where the brewery is visible behind the bar. All the milling takes place above the brewery and the conditioning tanks are in the basement ... Big River uses a gravity brewing process. Working with open top fermenters, the brew master and his crew brew only ales, no lagers with between four and eight beers on tap.
One Saturday I decided it was Lady's day out. We went up to Cleveland TN and took US-64 east to Ocoee ... a place where she can swim.

First we went to Lake Ocoee and drove the scenic drive following the lake's edge stopping at the Hydro plants along the way. Ocoee No. 1 started out as a grist mill before it was turned into a hydro plant. Park's mill occupied the Ocoee No 1 site from the mid 19th century until 1910 when the Tennessee Electric Power Company acquired the site for the construction of a hydro plant. This was Tennessee's first large hydroelectric plant and was built in just 18 months. In 1912 Ocoee No. 1 began providing electricity to Chattanooga and the surrounding area. In 1939, TVA purchased the Ocoee plants.
This stretch of US-64 is known as the Ocoee Scenic Byway which crosses the Cherokee National Forest from east to west. There is beautiful scenery along a 4 mile stretch of Lake Ocoee and through the Ocoee River Gorge.
Along the Byway, we stopped at the Ocoee Whitewater Center where you can stroll among the garden terraces, see the race course used for the 1996 Olympic Canoe and Kayak Slalom competition, visit the gift shop, explore the hiking and mountain bike trails, or take a cool swim at the "blue hole," a favorite river spot among locals for generations. We sat and watched kayakers play in the whitewater, rafters drift by and Lady got to play in the shallow, easy current areas along the river bank.
Our next stop was to find the lake on top of the mountain that I remember going to several years ago. And find it we did ... it's Lake McKamey at the day use area of the Chilhowee campground. Forest road 77 climbs up Chilhowee Mountain, where there are several scenic views of Lake Ocoee, leading to the recreation area of Lake McKamey as well as the site of a confederate camp. The day use area has a few walking trails, but there was a sign posted that they're having trouble with bears, so we didn't leave the area of the facilities.
On our way back to Chattanooga, we stopped at PetSmart so Lady could go shopping. She got some more rawhide chew bones, a few new toys, and some new food items to try. She had a great time wondering up and down the aisles of the store checking out all the merchandise and visiting with all the other shoppers and store workers.
She must have had a really good day since she's zonked out now, too tired to play with her new toys. Oh well, they'll keep until tomorrow.

Images may not be reproduced without permission