Some 300 feet below, the Tennessee River bisects the city before heading west to the Tennessee River Gorge. To the south, beyond a hairpin turn in the river known as Moccasin Bend, looms Lookout Mountain, the site of a prominent Civil War battle. Missionary Ridge, another battlefield, corrals the city center to the east. “We’ll build a cantilevered wooden overlook here,”
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Woody indicates, “with seating, so people can sit, read a book, or watch the sunset.” It seems as if we can see forever; it’s hard to believe that Chattanooga was once declared the dirtiest city in America, with air so thick that motorists needed headlights to drive during the day. From the overlook, a series of stakes bearing fluores-
cent orange flags marks the course of a new trail beneath an oak-and-hickory canopy. In 2009, The Trust for Public Land acquired Stringer’s Ridge for a Chattanooga city park and now has hired Woody to lace the ridge with nearly eight miles of trails. “We want new people to visit,” Woody says, “and we want everyone to stay longer.” Woody is all about connecting people with the land. The same could be said for Chattanooga. The preser-
vation and opening for public use of Stringer’s Ridge are emblematic of Chattanooga’s commitment to open space and quality of life as a key to its economic future.
rofessional trail designer Woody Keen is taking a break to enjoy the view at a natural lookout on Stringer’s Ridge in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The preservation and opening for public use of Stringer’s Ridge are emblematic of Chattanooga’s commitment to open space and quality of life as key to its economic future.
In recent years this strategy has yielded stunning
success, as the once-polluted city has become a mag- net for tourists and attracted businesses small and large. In 2010, a major Volkswagen manufacturing plant brought with it more than 2,000 jobs. No one is suggesting that parks, trails, and outdoor access are the only reason for Chattanooga’s boom, but they are clearly a major factor. “One of the attractions for Volkswagen was that the site
we presented to them is adjacent to a newly created, 2,800- acre nature preserve and park,” says David Crockett, director of the city’s Office of Sustainability. “Companies want their employees to have places to walk and bike and enjoy the land.” “Every place I go in the Southeast, I hear planners
and business leaders making reference to Chattanooga,” says Peter Harnik, director of The Trust for Public Land’s Center for City Park Excellence. “They may say, ‘Our vision is to create another Chattanooga,’ or ‘I’d be happy if we could accomplish just half as much as Chattanooga’s done.’ For a city of only 167,000, Chattanooga has become highly influential—both for its can-do attitude and for its unquestionably successful results.”
A POLLUTED PAST It was not always so. Chattanooga was a rail and indus- trial hub long before Glenn Miller’s 1941 big-band hit “Chattanooga Choo Choo” forever linked the town with trains. The great Civil War battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga were fought because the convergence of rail lines made this the gateway to the Deep South. The Civil War brought Northerners to Chattanooga,
Billy Weeks
Historic Lookout Mountain commands a view of downtown Chattanooga and Moccasin Bend on the Tennessee River. Previous page: downtown as seen from the new parkland on Stringer’s Ridge.
14 LAND&PEOPLE Spring/Summer 2012
and they brought industrialization. During the war, Union general John T. Wilder shelled Chattanooga from Stringer’s Ridge. After the war, he returned to establish the Roan Iron Works, by 1871 the city’s largest employer. Heavy indus- try mushroomed; Chattanooga became known as the “Dynamo of Dixie.” Factories and coal furnaces pumped