Well Raining Again But We Still Went Caching 4/2/2009

It poured during the night and was still drizzling when we got up but we got our caches together and drove into Chattanooga again for some very very interesting caching and sight seeing.
Our first cache was located at the First Methodist Church in Chattanooga which is now just the steeple of that church as they merged with Centenary Methodist Church in 1967. The first Methodist church in Chattanooga was organized in a log cabin at the corner of Lookout Street and Georgia Avenue in 1839. Five years later, the Methodist churches of the South withdrew from the rest of Methodism over the issue of slavery and this church then became known as the Methodist Episcopal Church South. In 1885, the name of our local congregation was changed to Centenary Methodist commemorating the centennial of American Methodism. During the occupation of Chattanooga by Union forces, persons who had been members of northern Methodist churches organized their own church, First Methodist Episcopal Church, that became known to generations of Chattanoogans as the "Stone Church". (Its steeple still stands at the intersection of McCallie and Georgia Avenues.) Through their connections with the north, the congregation was able to get support for the building of a university (now known as the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga). After the Civil War, the congregations of each church grew in size and influence. In the next 100 years, each built and outgrew several buildings. Both churches were sensitive to the needs of the less fortunate in the community. Centenary supplied the first city missionary and was instrumental in beginning the Methodist Neighborhood Centers and Asbury Center at Oak Manor. Impetus for a Goodwill organization came from First Methodist; and both churches gave assistance to the Traveler's Aid Society and the Florence Crittenton Home. In 1911, the two churches initiated a movement toward unification of the branches of the Methodist church that had withdrawn from the parent church. On May 10, 1939, the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church South and the Methodist Protestant Church became one great church: The Methodist Church. In 1967, the First Methodist and Centenary congregations merged and a year later, the Methodist Church combined with the United Brethren. The name of the new church then became First-Centenary United Methodist Church. In 1971, the congregation voted to build a new sanctuary and on April 8, 1973, the first worship service was held in the new building and the steeple of the old church still stands in the downtown area.
Next cache was in the middle of downtown also where an artist had built what they call the "Steel Sky" a artwork built from steel and painted to look like a sky. Next cache was a Travel Bug Hotel and it was a square container strapped to a light pole with a combination lock on it so nobody could steal the contents. Next was a nano cache on a fire hydrant. Next cache was on one of the sculptures around town called the "Brick Truck".
Then we were off to the Chattanooga National Cemetery for 2 virtual caches. The first had to do with a particular headstone we had to find and get some information from. While on our way to the second cache we ran into a full military cemetery which looked quite impressive with the color guard and military present. The second cache had to do with The Great Locomotive Chase or Andrews' Raid which was a military raid that occurred April 12, 1862, in northern Georgia during the American Civil War. Volunteers from the Union Army stole a train in an effort to disrupt the vital Western & Atlantic Railroad (W&A), which ran from Atlanta, Georgia, to Chattanooga, Tennessee. They were pursued by other locomotives, and the raiders were eventually captured, with some being executed as spies. Some of Andrews' Raiders became the very first recipients of the Medal of Honor. Maj. Gen. Ormsby M. Mitchel commanded the Federal troops in Tennessee. He planned to move south with his army and seize Huntsville, Alabama, before turning east in hopes of capturing Chattanooga, Tennessee. James J. Andrews, a civilian scout and part-time spy, proposed a daring raid aimed at destroying the Western and Atlantic Railroad link to Chattanooga, isolating the city from Atlanta. He recruited a civilian named William Hunter Campbell, as well as 22 volunteer Union soldiers from three Ohio regiments (2nd, 21st and 33rd Ohio Infantry). Andrews instructed the men to arrive in Marietta, Georgia, by midnight of April 10. With the plans delayed a day by heavy rain, they traveled in small parties in civilian clothing to avoid arousing suspicion. All but two men (Samuel Llwewellyn and James Smith) were able to reach the designated rendezvous point at the appointed time. On the morning of April 12, a passenger train with the locomotive General was stopped at Big Shanty (now Kennesaw, Georgia) so that the crew and passengers could have breakfast. Andrews and his raiders took this opportunity to hijack the General and a few railcars. His goal was to drive the train towards the north toward Chattanooga and meet up with Mitchel's advancing army. En route, Andrews planned to inflict as much damage as possible to the railroad by tearing up track, destroying switches, burning covered bridges , and disrupting telegraph wires. James J. Andrews' men commandeered the General and steamed out of Big Shanty, leaving behind startled and shocked passengers, crew members, and onlookers, which included a number of Confederate soldiers from a trackside camp. The train's conductor, William Allen Fuller, with two other men, chased the General by foot, then the handcar. At Etowah, Fuller spotted the Yonah and with it chased the raiders north, all the way up to Kingston. At Kingston, Conductor Fuller got on the William R. Smith and headed north to Adairsville. The tracks two miles south of Adairsville were broken by the raiders, so Fuller had to run the distance by foot. At Adairsville, Fuller took command of southbound locomotive The Texas and chased the General, picking up 11 Confederate troops at Calhoun. With The Texas chasing the General in reverse, the two trains steamed through Dalton, and Tunnel Hill. At various points, raiders severed telegraph wires so no transmissions could go through to Chattanooga. However, their objective of burning bridges and dynamiting Tunnel Hill was not accomplished. The wood was soaked with rain and did not burn, despite one of the wagons having been set on fire and left on a bridge. At milepost 116.3 (north of Ringgold, Georgia), with the locomotive out of fuel, Andrews' men abandoned the General and scattered, just a few miles from Chattanooga. Andrews and all 21 of his men were caught by the Confederates, as well as the two that had missed the hijacking that morning by oversleeping. Andrews was tried in Chattanooga and found guilty. He was executed by hanging on June 7 in Atlanta. On June 18, seven others who had been transported to Knoxville and convicted as spies, were returned to Atlanta and also hanged; their bodies were buried unceremoniously in an unmarked grave (they were later reburied in Chattanooga National Cemetery). Eight other raiders made a successful and remarkable escape from confinement. Traveling for hundreds of miles in predetermined pairs, they all made it back safely to Union lines, including two who were aided by slaves and Union sympathizers and two who floated down the Chattahoochee River until they were eventually rescued by the Union blockade vessel USS Somerset. The remaining six were exchanged as prisoners of war on March 17, 1863. The very first Medals of Honor were given to these men by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Later, all but two of the other soldiers also received them (posthumously for those who had been executed). The two who have not received the Medal of Honor were executed but the story of their heroics was apparently lost in a paper shuffle at the War Department, and it took some lobbying for them to be appropriately honored. As civilians, Andrews and Campbell were not eligible. We got the information we needed, left and stopped at McDonald's for lunch.
Then we were off to Chattanooga and Chickamauga National Military Park for 3 more virtual caches one in the park, one at the Incline Railway and the other at Point Park. The Battle of Chickamauga, one of the bloodiest engagements of the Civil War's western theater and the biggest battle ever fought in Georgia, took place September 18-20, 1863. The campaign that brought the Union and Confederate armies to Chickamauga began in late June 1863, when the Union Army of the Cumberland under Major General William S. Rosecrans advanced southwestward from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, against the Confederate Army of Tennessee, commanded by General Braxton Bragg. Rosecrans's goal was to capture the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, an important rail junction and gateway to the Deep South. Through a series of successful and relatively bloodless turning movements, Rosecrans's army forced Bragg's troops to abandon middle Tennessee and fall back to Chattanooga. Bragg subsequently deployed most of his troops at crossings of the Tennessee River northeast of Chattanooga, where he expected Rosecrans to attack. Instead, on August 29, 1863, the Union soldiers crossed the Tennessee River at several points west and southwest of Chattanooga. The Army of the Cumberland, numbering almost 60,000 men, then advanced southeastward in three widely separated columns over the rough mountain and valley terrain of northeast Alabama and northwest Georgia in an attempt to threaten Bragg's railroad supply line. When Bragg learned of the enemy threat to his rear, he abandoned Chattanooga on September 9 and retreated southward, even though Confederate reinforcements had arrived from Mississippi and East Tennessee. As his army passed through LaFayette, Georgia, Bragg learned of the widely scattered condition of the Union army and planned an offensive movement against portions of the Union force. During the second week of September, he had several chances to destroy isolated portions of the Union army, but command dissension resulted in several bungled attempts to punish the enemy. At the same time, Rosecrans began ordering a concentration of his troops, realizing that the three isolated corps of his army were in danger. By September 17, two of Rosecrans's corps were reunited and were moving north toward Lee and Gordon's Mill on Chickamauga Creek to join the third Union corps. Bragg believed that the Union troops at Lee and Gordon's Mill constituted the northernmost elements of Rosecrans's force. Thus he developed a battle plan to cross Chickamauga Creek north of the mill and drive the Union troops southwestward back against the mountains and away from Chattanooga. September 18: The First Day of Fighting:The first day's fighting of the Battle of Chickamauga consisted of several Confederate attempts to seize crossing points on Chickamauga Creek. Union cavalrymen delayed the Confederates at Reed's Bridge, but eventually Southern forces seized the span and advanced southwestward toward Lee and Gordon's Mill. Union mounted infantrymen at Alexander's Bridge also fought a successful delaying action before being forced back. Southerners did get across the Chickamauga on September 18, but the delays prevented them from reaching the left flank of the main Union force. September 19: The Second Day of Fighting: The actions on Kelly Farm
September 18 led Rosecrans to believe that Bragg might try and interpose the Confederate army between the Union forces and Chattanooga, so Rosecrans ordered one of his corps commanders, Major General George H. Thomas, to extend his lines northward from Lee and Gordon's Mill to the area of the Kelly farm. On the morning of September 19, Thomas sent troops eastward from the Kelly farm to destroy what he thought was a small and isolated enemy force. Instead, the Union soldiers encountered Confederate cavalrymen and ushered in a confused general engagement that lasted all day and spread southward for nearly four miles. Both Rosecrans and Bragg sent troops into the fighting, although the thick forests made it difficult for large bodies of troops to maneuver. At one point, a body of Confederates achieved a breakthrough and threatened to seize the LaFayette Road, but Northern reinforcements regained the lost ground. At the end of the day, the Union troops had withstood repeated attacks without losing their connection to Chattanooga. That night they pulled back to a defensive position along the LaFayette Road, which they strengthened by constructing log breastworks. September 20: The Third Day of Fighting: During the night and early morning of September 19 and 20, Bragg divided his army into two wings, the right (or northern) wing under Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk and the left (or southern) wing under Lieutenant General James Longstreet, who had arrived from Virginia with additional Confederate reinforcements. Bragg's plans for the 20th called for an attack to begin at dawn on the Confederate right and continue southward, driving the Union troops away from Chattanooga. Ineptitude on the part of Polk and one of his subordinates caused the attacks to begin several hours late. Although a small force of Confederates briefly turned the enemy troops left, Union reinforcements drove back the Southerners. Union soldiers protected by breastworks bloodily repulsed the rest of the attacks launched by Polk's troops. Shortly after 11 a.m. on the 20th, Rosecrans came to believe that a Union division in the center of his line had created a gap by moving out of position. In order to rectify the situation, Rosecrans ordered another division under Brigadier General Thomas J. Wood northward to fill the supposed hole. But a massive Confederate attack led by Longstreet began at this time, with thousands of Southerners charging into the real gap left by Wood's movement. By noon, disaster had engulfed the center and right wings of the Union army, sending Rosecrans, several of his principal subordinates, and many of their men into a retreat northward to Chattanooga. Some Northern soldiers eventually formed a line on a series of steep, wooded knolls known as Snodgrass Hill or Horseshoe Ridge. Although the Confederates continued to attack Snodgrass throughout the afternoon of the 20th, they were unable to capture the position. Late in the afternoon, Union General Thomas, who earned the name the "Rock of Chickamauga" for his outstanding performance that day, withdrew his forces from the battlefield back toward Chickamauga to the safety of a gap in Missionary Ridge. Chickamauga was an extremely costly battle for both armies. Rosecrans lost more than 16,000 men killed, wounded, and missing, while Bragg's army of roughly 68,000 men sustained more than 18,000 casualties. While the battle was considered a Confederate victory because it pushed the Union army back to Chattanooga rather than letting them proceed into Georgia (it would be the next year before the Union army tried again), Rosecrans achieved his objective for the campaign, the capture of Chattanooga. Union troops did have to be pulled from Virginia and Mississippi to reinforce Rosecrans's besieged army in Chattanooga, but otherwise the staggering losses sustained in both field armies produced few immediate tangible results. We got the information we needed at Craven's House. Robert Cravens is today perhaps best known for the house that bears his name on a small outcrop of level land about half-way up Lookout Mountain south of Chattanooga. In 1838, when Cravens moved to the area, Ross's Landing had just been christened Chattanooga. The port on the Tennessee River was important to local cotton growers, who would transport their crop to the city and ship it via the water route to Memphis. The cotton trade was short-lived. It all but ended with the completion of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad ten years later. By that time, however, Cravens had begun to manufacture charcoal iron, shipping it to points east by railroad. Soon Cravens iron business was a driving force in the Chattanooga economy. He was familiar with the area where he built his home in 1855. The outcropping was visible from the Bluff Furnace along the Tennessee River. Then the Civil War came to Chattanooga. During the battle of Chattanooga, both the Union and Confederate armies used Cravens' relatively opulent 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. On November 24, 1863, the heaviest fighting during the "Battle Above the Clouds" occurred on the level plateau on which the house was built. Shortly after capturing the house, the 10,000 man Union advance was halted by a weak line of some 1,200 entrenched Confederates under the command of Stevenson. Although the home sustained minor damage during the fighting, it would later be destroyed by Union soldiers during a drunken brawl. Cravens returned after the war and rebuilt the house. The original home was two levels, the lower or "underground" level and a second level in an 'L'-shape. After the war a third level was added, which contains three bedrooms. Cravens struggled against increased competition to rebuild both his business and personal fortune, which had also been destroyed by the war. In 1868 Cravens helped revolutionize the iron business with the introduction of coke-fired plants. 88 acres of land owned by Cravens on the northern end of Lookout Mountain was purchased from his heirs by Adolf Ochs. Ochs combined this with land he had purchased from Col. Whiteside's family and donated it to the Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Park in 1893. The house was completely renovated in 1956.
Then it was on to The Incline Railway often called America's Most Amazing Mile. 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" (more) 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. We gathered our information there and started to drive to the top of Lookout Mountain.
WOW what a drive up to Point Park on the top of Lookout Mountain and the view from the top over Chattanooga was SPECTACULAR....check the pictures. 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 would be destroyed during the Civil War. 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 ineffective. After the Union Army successfully completed the "cracker line" the position became a target. On November 24, 1863 General Joseph Hooker [US] launched an attack that would become known as the "Battle Above The Clouds." Although no fighting actually took place in Point Park a Confederate artillery battery did fire on Union soldiers, who were sweeping the mountainside. Although the mountaintop remained relatively quiet after the Civil War, in 1879 a second toll-road was completed and a building boom ensued. By the mid-1890's there were a number of alternate routes to the top of Lookout Mountain including two Inclines (more) and two railroads (a broad gauge and narrow gauge), and a number of hotels and rooms. 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. The Battle of Lookout Mountain started on November 24, 1863and the estimated casualties were 710 Union and 521 Confederate soldiers. General Carter Stevenson [CS] was worried. Troops from Chattanooga (city history) had been pouring across Brown's Ferry and into Lookout Valley. Even the Rebel attack that destroyed Baldy Smith's bridge only slowed troop movement to the western side of Lookout Mountain. More than 10,000 Union soldiers were in position, appearing ready to attack roughly 1,000 Rebels on the slopes and at the top of Lookout Mountain. On the evening of November 23, 1863, Stevenson signaled Army of Tennessee commander Braxton Bragg about his concern. Unknown to the Confederates at the time, the Union Army had broken the Rebel code. George Thomas, commander of the Army of the Cumberland, knew the contents of the message before Bragg did. He ordered Joseph Hooker to test the strength of the Confederate forces on the mountain on November 24, the day before the planned attack on Missionary Ridge. That was a good idea. It had been assumed that Bragg had left enough men to protect the easily defend peak. He had not. General Ambrose Burnside [US] in Knoxville was a serious problem and Bragg had stripped his troops to the bare minimum to send men to the northeast Tennessee city. It was a mistake that may have cost the Confederacy the war. "Fighting Joe" Hooker came up with a brilliant plan to mitigate the advantage the Rebels had by controlling Lookout Mountain. Rather than trying to take the top of the mountain his men would cross Lookout Creek, move up the slope of the mountain, then sweep the Confederates towards the north end of the mountain. It worked like a charm. At 8:30am men under Brigadier General John Geary bridged Lookout Creek near an old dam and began their work. They moved up the mountainside capturing unprepared Rebel pickets. As Lookout Mountain rises its slope becomes steeper and about 300 feet below the top the slope is near-vertical and strewn with large boulders. Not only did the Rebel commanders feel this was an impregnable fortress, so did Joe Hooker. Once Geary's men reached about two-thirds of the way up the slope they stopped climbing and began to move in a line parallel to the top of the mountain. The Confederates were prepared for a force coming up the hill, not at them from the side. Now they pulled back under fire, giving ground up slowly but steadily. Brigadier General Edward Walthall, whose Mississippians were guarding the slopes, tried to coordinate a defense but failed. By noon Geary's men were approaching the front of the mountain. A fog began to cover much of the top half of the mountain at 10:00am that morning, obscuring the view of the participants of the battle and the men in the Chattanooga Valley. It was this meteorological phenomena that gave the fighting on Lookout Mountain its nickname, "The Battle Above the Clouds." Through the fog Confederate artillery shells and canister would pass over the heads of the advancing soldiers. Occasionally the fog would lift briefly so that the Union Army in the Chattanooga Valley could see the action. Halfway up on the northern slope of Lookout Mountain a plateau holds the home of Robert Cravens, a wealthy industrialist who played an important role during the first 50 years of Chattanooga's history. Cravens' House had been covered with fog for most of the morning. As Union troops approached the level ground the fog lifted. Not only could the men on Lookout Mountain see each other, but the men in the valley below could see the action as well. With a sudden burst, the Union soldiers appeared and captured the plateau from unprepared Rebel defenders. Then the Confederates battled back, trying to buy time for their fellow soldiers to establish a line east of the home. The fog then returned. Relentlessly, Hooker's juggernaut march on. It seemed as if nothing would prevent the Union Army from surrounding Lookout Mountain and trapping the artillery on the top. Then the Confederates got a series of unexpected breaks. Geary halted the forward advance of the Union line to regroup. While Geary was regrouping General Hooker ordered Geary to maintain his position, however, all was not stagnant on the Rebel lines. Brigadier General Edmund Pettis moved his men into position to support Walthall and at 2:30 the Rebel line began to advance, although still greatly outnumbered. The advance was short-lived. The Battle Above the Clouds ended abruptly at 4:00pm when Stevenson received orders to withdraw from his position on Lookout Mountain and joined Bragg on Missionary Ridge. After we got our information for our cache we walked around the park taking pictures and taking in the stunning scenery. Our drive down the mountain was almost as spectacular as the homes along the way sitting on the edges of the cliffs were really something else. Boy one wrong step and you were history but the homes were just gorgeous. It really must have been a builders nightmare taking the building supplies way up the mountain and then trying to build the homes on the side of the rocks.
Some of the other interesting things we saw on our travels through the city looking for caches were: Bluff View Art District is a historic neighborhood filled with restaurants, a coffee house, art gallery, historic Bed & Breakfast, and plenty of gardens, plazas and courtyards where you can relax and rejuvenate. The neighborhood, which stretches over 1.5 city blocks, sets high atop stone cliffs that plunge into the river below. From this bluff-top location, you will have breathtaking views of the Tennessee River, as well as downtown Chattanooga and the Walnut Street Bridge, a position which earned early residents of the area the nickname "cliff dwellers." Dedication to the visual, landscape and culinary arts is evident throughout Bluff View Art District. We proudly bake artisan breads, roast coffees, make pastas, grow herbs and produce, and prepare pastries, desserts and chocolates in kitchens throughout the District. At the turn of the 18th century, as the Tennessee River Valley began booming with wealth and industry, many of the city's most influential families built their homes and raised their children in a neighborhood known as Bluff View. This unique neighborhood was originally fashioned in the style of a small European Village, and many of those elements are still seen throughout Bluff View Art District in the art, architecture, landscaping, and food. As a young boy, Charles Portera Jr. had taken private lessons in the beautiful French stucco that now houses River Gallery and Rembrandt's Coffee House. His parents, Anthony Charles Sr. and Mary Portera quickly fell in love with the neighborhood and the historic homes within it. In the early 1990's, Dr. Charles and Mary Portera began a journey to revitalize the historic neighborhood of Bluff View. In 1991, they purchased the French stucco and opened River Gallery, which the Porteras believed would complement the Hunter Museum of American Art and the Houston Museum of Decorative Arts. Some of the stores and attractions there are: River Gallery, River Gallery Sculpture Garden, Bluff View Inn & Restaurant, Back Inn Cafe, Rembrandt's Coffee House, Rennaissance Commons ( a banquet and conference center), Maclellan House Inn, Bocce Ball Court & Terrace, a herb garden, River Gallery Glass Studio, Rembrandt's Roasting Co., and Bluff View Bakery.
The Hunter Museum of American Art is an art museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The museum's collections include works representing the Hudson River School, 19th century genre painting, American Impressionism, the Ashcan School, early modernism, regionalism, and post World War II modern and contemporary art. The museum is situated on an 80-foot bluff overlooking the Tennessee River and downtown Chattanooga. The building itself represents three distinct architectural stages: the original 1904 classical revival mansion which has housed the museum since its opening in 1952, a brutalist addition built in 1975, and a 2005 addition designed by Randall Stout which now serves as the entrance to the museum. With the 2005 expansion the Hunter extended toward downtown, and the recently completed walking bridge over Riverside Drive provides a pedestrian-friendly connection to the nearby Walnut Street Bridge and riverfront attractions which is made of glass. The pictures of all the sculptures we took are located out and around the Museum.
Bluff Furnace Historical Park, on the Riverwalk between the Walnut Street Bridge and the Hunter Museum, marks the site of the city's first heavy industrial plant. Completed in 1854, Bluff Furnace produced bars of pig iron. In 1859, the plant was leased by Northern industrialists and began burning coke, a fuel used nowhere else in the South. Today the park features a stainless steel outline of the original furnace stack, a scale model of the complex, explanatory signs, and a multimedia, interactive computer program highlighting the history of the riverfront.
Porkers BBQ which is one of the better BBQ's in Chattanooga which advertises the "best butts in town". Red-and-white booths against a black-and-white checkered floor go well with the marble-topped lunch counter and soda fountain stools. Old-fashioned ads and Coca-Cola memorabilia add ambiance. Tasty barbecued beef, pork and chicken plates are served with beans, slaw, fries, Texas toast and soft beverage. Try the Grilled Marinated Chicken Sandwich made with chicken breast, tomato, lettuce, pickle and mayonnaise. Enjoy the soup of the day or homemade chili or smoked Chicken Caesar Salad. End with an Oreo Cookie, Key Lime, or Coconut Pie.
Historic Engel Stadium is a baseball field located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The stadium was built in 1930 and holds 12,000 people. It was the home of the Chattanooga Lookouts until 1999 when, at the end of the season, they moved to BellSouth Park. Engel Stadium was named for baseball scout and Chattanooga Lookouts owner, Joe Engel. Many notables have played on the field, including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Hank Aaron, Satchel Paige, Willie Mays, Harmon Killebrew, Ferguson Jenkins, Kiki Cuyler, Kid Elberfeld and Burleigh Grimes. During its minor league days, the ballfield had probably the deepest in-play center field areas among active ballparks, 471 feet from home plate. Harmon Killebrew was the only known player to hit a home run over the 471-foot marker. Engel Stadium (with a fence reducing its dimensions) is now used for high school baseball games and, up until a few years ago, for the TSSAA baseball playoffs, which were moved to Murfreesboro, Tenn., to be more centrally located for all Tennessee high schools.
Then it was on back to the coach and the expected thunderstorms during the evening and overnight. Mom did our logs and I did the blog and by then it was dinner time and that was it for a very busy and interesting day. So until we meet again tomorrow we love and miss you all. Mom & Dad


Picture List:1,2,3-Porkers BBQ "The Best Butts in Town", 4-17-Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park including Craven's House, 18,19,20-First methodist Church Circa 1881 (this is what remains of the first church, just a steeple), 21-Military History of Chattanooga historical marker, 22,23-"Brick Truck" sculpture, 24,25-"Railway Boarding House" sculpture, 26,27,28,29,30-Bluff Furnace Historical Park, 31,32,33,34-Historical Engel Baseball Stadium, 35-Glass walkway from museum to downtown, 36,37,38-"Full Count" sculpture, 39,40-"Weather Watcher" sculpture, 41,42-"Garden Gate" sculpture, 43,44-"Free Money" sculpture, 45,46-"Boreal" sculpture, 47,48-"Pregnant Whale" sculpture, 49,50,51,52,53-Other various sculptures outside the museum, 54,55,56,57,58-Hunter Museum, 59-Bluff View informational marker, 60-Back Bay Cafe, 61-Chocolate Kitchen, 62-Mclellan House, 63-Holsten Museum, 64,65,66,67-Regional History Museum, 68,69,70,71,72,73-Rembrandt's Coffee House, 74-Renassiance Commons, 75,76-Bluff View Bakery & Pasta Kitchen, 77,78,79,80,81,82-River Gallery Sculpture Gardens, 83-Sculpture in back of Bluff View Inn, 84,85,86,87,88,89,90,91-Point Park Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park, 92,93,94,95,96,97-View from the top of Lookout Mountain from Point Park overlooking Chattanooga, 98,99,100-Incline Railway, 101,102,103,104,105-Andrew's Raiders Tribute, 106-Welcome to St. Elmo, 107,108-Steel Art sculpture, 109-Hamilton County Courthouse, 110-Old tree in front of the courthouse.