History – Page 2 – Seeing the Scenic City

A few hours in Ringgold, Georgia

After we finished blueberry picking in LaFayette, we were kind of hungry, and a drink was due. Derek Googled coffee shops in the area. He asked me if we had been to either Ringgold or Chickamauga before, and which town would I rather go to. I said no to both, and to pick whichever.

And so we ended up in Ringgold for a couple of hours. The town surprised us in a good way. We will more than likely go back there again.

We had a light lunch at Caffeine Addicts. I did not take any photos here, oops! I always get a chai wherever I go, since I do not like coffee. Usually chai doesn’t change too much from place to place, however, Caffeine Addicts featured toffee nut flavored syrup, a flavor I had not seen before. My go-to is usually hazelnut syrup. It was so good! I would definitely come back just to have that syrup.

Also, the people who worked there were wearing masks, and every other table was closed off. We were there before noon, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

We headed a few doors down to the cutest store front, A Fern and a Feather General Store. Derek bought moonshine jelly and muscadine cider (non alcoholic) and I bought a spoon holder for my tea that says “Today’s good mood brought to you by tea.”

If you’ve been reading for a while now, you probably know I love Civil War history. The Great Locomotive Chase ended in Ringgold. A group of Union men, led by civilian James A. Andrews, stole a train with the intention of running it to Chattanooga, damaging the railroad tracks in the process. The locomotive ran out of fuel in Ringgold, and the men fled on foot. Many of them were later put on trial and were executed.

We checked out the Ringgold Depot, which was closed at the time. We waited for a few minutes to see if a train would come through, but no luck. We drove about a half mile down the tracks until we came to the General monument. The General is the name of the locomotive that the men stole. I’m glad I texted my dad that we were there, and he gave us directions to the monument!

We will definitely come to Ringgold again, because someday I hope to do an entire Great Locomotive Chase day trip, stopping at each of the railroad stations and towns along the way.

Our last two stops in Ringgold were two antique shops that were next to each other. The one was called Cotton Gin Antiques, named for the business that was established by the Callaway brothers in 1929. The outside of it was so cool looking! It is a treasure trove for people who like to hunt for old items.

Ringgold Feed and Seed Antiques was next door. We were on the hunt for a basket to put on our table by the front door; a place to put our masks and hand sanitizer. We found one that looks great with our overall house decor. By the way, while we were there, that was when the train chose to come through! Oh well.

Ringgold is a nice little town, and there was plenty more that we did not check out during our time there. Because it’s only a half hour away, I am sure we will come back sometime for a half-day getaway.

Ringgold1 — A Fern and a Feather General Store

Monument for The General, the locomotive that was stolen by Union men.

Ringgold22 — There were cats at the antique store. I love this shot! Do you think this makes a good advertisement for Coca-Cola?

Ringgold11 — One of the rooms of The Cotton Gin Antiques.

Chickamauga National Military Park

I love Civil War history, so a visit to Chickamauga National Military Park was a must. My co-workers had said that the park had opened back up, and they had enjoyed their time there.

Let me just say … the beginning of our visit was a disaster! One co-worker told us about these trail maps that had questions that corresponded with the monuments and sites, almost like a scavenger hunt.

We printed one out for the General Bragg Trail and on Saturday morning, we set off. And we immediately got lost. So lost in fact, that we walked half a mile out of our way, one mile round-trip. Not to mention that Derek had already drank all of his water. So we went back to the car, bought a 24-pack of water and more snacks at a grocery store at the entrance of the park and started again. And we got lost again … and again.

It made me feel really stupid, especially because my co-worker had done that exact trail a week before, and she said the map with the turn by turn directions really helped her. What were we missing? We saw the marker for the trail where it started, but then we immediately lost the trail after the first monument.

There was a lot of arguing and a few tears that threatened to come out, but we managed to salvage the day. Eventually we just gave up on trying to find the General Bragg Trail, and we got into our car and saw everything by driving around.

The park is beautiful and easy enough to get around (unless you’re like us and can’t read a map apparently). There were a lot of interesting monuments with beautiful relief details. I enjoyed seeing the different cabins, some that were turned into on-site hospitals.

We were there all morning, and we only saw about half of the park. I would like to come back and explore more. Plus, the Visitor’s Center was closed, so I’d like to see that next time.

The Battle of Chickamauga was fought September 18–20, 1863. The Union lost, but they retreated to Chattanooga, where they would win a series of battles in November.

Fort Wood Historic District

Last weekend Derek and I walked around the Fort Wood Historic District, a neighborhood in Chattanooga.

The neighborhood is right next to the UTC campus and is a couple of blocks wide. Two of the biggest homes are the Mayor’s Mansion Inn, which is a bread and breakfast, and the Patten House, a UTC building that houses the The Southeast Center for Education in the Arts.

“A fortification during the Civil War, Fort Wood was constructed by the Union Army in 1863. The National Park Service placed several war-era cannons in the neighborhood. In the 1880s, the fort and surrounding land was auctioned off. In time, Fort Wood became one of Chattanooga’s finest residential neighborhoods,” Wikipedia says.

We enjoyed walking around a new to us section of the city and mused about what it would be like to live in one of the homes. It was a good way to get outside and still practice social distancing. We did not see many people and those that we did were relaxing on their beautiful front porches.

Fort Wood Historic District0 — The Mayor’s Mansion Inn

Fort Wood Historic District14 — UTC’s Patten House.

Moon Pies

Did you know that Moon Pies originated, and are still made in Chattanooga today?

Being from the northeast, I had never heard of a Moon Pie before moving to Chattanooga.

According to Moonpie.com, “It all began in 1917 when a KY coal miner asked our traveling salesman for a snack “as big as the moon.” Earl Mitchell reported back and the bakery obliged with a tasty treat aptly named MoonPie. It was filling, fit in the lunch pail and the coal miners loved it. The rest, as they say, is history.”

A Moon Pie consists of two graham crackers with a marshmallow filling and is covered in a flavored coating.

The flavors are chocolate (the original) vanilla, strawberry, salted caramel and banana.

There is a Moon Pie General Store in Chattanooga, where you can buy Moon Pie anything: clothing, mugs, magnets, bumper stickers, Moon Pie ice cream, and of course the Moon Pies themselves.

When Derek and I were at the General Store this weekend, they were selling a new limited edition coconut flavor.

The Moon Pies come in different sizes. Regular (which is about the size of your palm), mini, and double decker.

I do not have much of a sweet tooth, so the minis are perfect for me. When we first moved to Chattanooga, I tried the chocolate, vanilla and strawberry flavors. I prefer the chocolate.

When we first moved to Chattanooga, I remember noticing the Moon Pies in all of the grocery stores, and thinking about how different that was.

Have you ever had a Moon Pie? Which one is your favorite?

Wreaths Across America

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending Wreaths Across America, a national program held at many different cemeteries at the same time, honoring veterans by laying wreaths at their graves.

I was familiar with this program, but I have never participated before. I was there to cover the event for work, but I still enjoyed it and I was glad I got to have the experience.

There was a ceremony at noon before the wreath laying, and it was moving. There was a man who played the bagpipes, which sounded amazing. The ceremony also featured two men playing echoing taps, which brought tears to my eyes. It reminded me of my grandpa, who was in the Navy.

Chattanooga National Cemetery, which is where I was for the program, has about 47,000 graves. About 30 percent were able to be decorated with wreaths, which are sponsored and purchased by the public. I would like to possibly do this next year, sponsor a wreath or two, and then lay them at a Civil War soldier’s grave, because of my interest in Civil War history.

There is an interesting side note in this story.

A Civil War reenacting unit fired a cannon during different times of the ceremony. I got my hands on a program, and I realized with excitement that it was Burrough’s Battery.

A few years ago, while I was still reenacting myself, we fundraised to have a group from Tennessee with six horses come to Gettysburg to pull our original 1863 cannon in the 150th Remembrance Day Parade. I was actually got to ride one of the horses. And I guess you know where this story is going now. The group firing the cannon during the ceremony was Burrough’s Battery.

After the ceremony, I introduced myself to some of the members, some of which I recognized through my photos. They did not remember me, but they did remember that parade. They even tried to recruit me. I said, thanks but no thanks. I don’t even have my uniform anymore! I just wanted to say hi. But it was a small world to be in the same place that morning.

Wreaths Across America6 — The start of the ceremony.

Wreaths Across America19 — People starting to unbox wreaths to lay at the graves.

Wreaths Across America21 — The cannon belonging to Burrough’s Battery at the top of the cemetery’s hill.

“Christmas in Dixie”

I completed a small bucket list item this weekend!

One of my favorite Christmas songs is “Christmas in Dixie” by Alabama. It has been my favorite song since I was little. I cannot explain why, seeing as I was born and raised in the northeast! More recently they have become one of my favorite bands. The band members are from Fort Payne, and so at the end of the song they sing, “And from Fort Payne, Alabama… Merry Christmas tonight.” We went to Fort Payne for the day and I got to spend a “Christmas in Dixie.”

I never knew much about the boys from Fort Payne, that is until we literally drove past Fort Payne, Alabama, when we were moving from Pennsylvania to Texas, over three years ago.

Living in Texas, there were more country stations on the radio, including a country classics one, which became my favorite. I was introduced to a whole new (well, new to me) section of country music. I kept hearing Alabama song after Alabama song and I enjoyed all of their music.

When we moved to Chattanooga, I realized that Fort Payne was only an hour away from us. I knew that going to Fort Payne during Christmas time would make the trip extra special for me, to make my favorite Christmas song come true for me personally.

We ended up having an activity packed day, and we learned a lot about Fort Payne’s history.

We arrived at lunch time and started out at The Spot, a cafe in downtown.

After lunch, we walked up and down the street. We browsed in a few shops, and admired the Christmas decorations. Seeing all of the banners in town that said “Christmas in Dixie,” was a treat for me.

Fort Payne14 — “Christmas in Dixie, it’s snowin’ in the pines
Merry Christmas from Dixie, to everyone tonight.”

Fort Payne13 — James Dean is an artist from Fort Payne. He is famous for his Pete the Cat work. Pete was all over town!

We walked down a few blocks to the City Park, where there are Alabama statues. We stopped to take a few photos and then we scoped out the park, where a Christmas event would be taking place later on that night.

Fort Payne21 — Me with Randy, the lead singer of the band.

We walked across the street from there and checked out the Depot Museum. The Depot was built in 1891. Admission was $3 and there were a ton of interesting artifacts donated from Fort Payne residents inside.

Fort Payne28 — A wedding dress from 1903.

Fort Payne31 — A collection of old items.

Fort Payne33 — An old newspaper press! I was excited to see this and learn what it was.

Did you know that Alabama was known as the sock capital of the world? We learned at the free Hosiery Museum that during the height of the sock boom, one out of every eight pairs of socks was made in Fort Payne. The Hosiery Museum had machines that made the socks on display, as well as old historical photographs of the town.

Fort Payne39 — An old photo of the historical DeKalb hotel (named after DeKalb County) which burned down.

From there we walked next door to the Fort Payne Opera House, where we also got a free tour. The Opera House was built in 1891, and still holds performances today, including Alabama! The woman who talked to us at both the Opera House and the Hosiery Museum was wonderful and full of knowledge. I wish I had remembered her name.

Then it was off to the Alabama Museum, the whole reason for the trip. It is a small museum and gift shop, but it is filled to the brim with items from the band members. We ended up buying a Christmas ornament from the gift shop.

After that we checked out the Big Mill Antique Mall, housed in the old hosiery mill. Also in the mill was Vintage Cafe, where we had a mid afternoon light meal.

When it got dark we headed back to the park for their annual “Christmas in the Park” event. There was a bonfire, free concessions, music and a tree lighting.

We had a nice day exploring a new area in a new state. I am glad that we found a lot of different things to do and learned some history of the area. I had worried that Derek would be bored with a whole day devoted to the Alabama band, and it ended up being much more than that!

Ketner’s Mill Country Fair

When I first moved to Chattanooga in September, Facebook started suggesting a lot of events for me to go to. Ketner’s Mill Country Fair was one of them, and I tucked the idea away in the back of my mind.

Ketner’s Mill is located in Whitwell, TN, about a half hour away from us, actually in the central time zone. It’s interesting and odd to be so close to the edge of a time zone barrier!

The Ketner family started working at the mill since 1842, according to www.ketnersmill.org. The mill ceased operations, but family members gathered together in the 1970s to restore the mill and house. It’s private property, but each year it’s opened to the public for the fair. The mill is not in production now, aside from that weekend. Visitors can buy cornmeal and watch it be made.

The fair featured a lot of vendors, wagon rides (we were lucky to get a whole wagon to ourselves) entertainment, blacksmith demonstrations and sorghum molasses demonstrations.

We learned that each of the vendors were all handpicked by the organizers of the fair. The items that each vendor had to sell were all nicely crafted. I stocked up on some homemade soaps, and we bought a small loaf of pumpkin bread to share at home. I only wish I had more money to purchase more items.

The fair grounds were beautiful as well. It was a cloudy day, and the clouds were low in the mountains. The mill was the focal point, and the Sequatchie River flowed behind it.

The drive to the fair was great as well, driving through some small towns and the Prentice Cooper State Forest. We pulled over many times to take photos of the scenery.

Ketner Mill craft fair0 — Low clouds in the mountains on our way to the fair.

Ketner Mill craft fair69 — Prentice Cooper State Forest.

Ketner Mill craft fair72 — Had to pull over for some small pops of color!

Ketner Mill craft fair9 — Ketner’s Mill and the Sequatchie River.

Ketner Mill craft fair47 — The view behind the mill.

Ketner Mill craft fair63 — Wagon ride with horses Mike and Ike.

Ketner Mill craft fair38 — Inside the Mill.

Ketner Mill craft fair25 — Blacksmith demonstrations.

Ketner Mill craft fair30 — Sorghum molasses demonstration.

Ketner Mill craft fair33 — A close up of the sugar cane being turned into juice.

Point Park

One of the attractions on top of Lookout Mountain is Point Park. It is part of the Chattanooga and Chickamauga National Military Park.

The Battle of Lookout Mountain was fought November 24, 1863. It became known as the Battle Above the Clouds. It was a part of a larger few months long campaign to take over Chattanooga.

It was important that Union forces take control of Chattanooga because Chattanooga was the gateway to the deep south, and many railroads converged there.

History aside, Point Park has some beautiful observation points that overlook the mountains and downtown Chattanooga. There are some hiking trails on Lookout Mountain, but the paths that we saw seemed more difficult than we were willing to take on.

Incline Railway and Point Park37 — The New York Peace Memorial

Incline Railway

A few weeks ago, Derek and I found a place to eat lunch in the St. Elmo neighborhood of Chattanooga. We ate outside on the patio, and we happened to be across the street from the Incline Railway station, which goes up Lookout Mountain.

I was aware of the Incline Railway, but I had honestly not given it much thought. Seeing the funicular railway for ourselves though had us curious enough to look it up on our phones while eating.

Through our research, I found out that once at the top of Lookout Mountain, Point Park, a part of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, was only a three block walk away. Being interested in Civil War history, Point Park was near the top of my Chattanooga to-do list.

We thought that instead of just driving up the mountain, it would be more fun to combine the two activities.

We were both surprised to find that the Incline Railway has been operating since 1895! It is also the steepest grade for a funicular railway in the United States, at 72.7 percent. The track goes up the mountain for approximately one mile.

I was not nervous, nor did I think to be nervous, until we got almost to the top, and it was very apparent just how steep we were. I felt like I was going to fall forward and keep falling down! Going up, the car faces backwards, which did not help that feeling! But we made it safe and sound. The whole way up took maybe 10-15 minutes.

Up at the top, there is an observation platform, a gift shop, and a small spot to get food such as pizza, ice cream and pretzels.

The view at the top was impressive. We were able to locate downtown Chattanooga and the Walnut Street Bridge, the highway that we take north to get home, and Signal Mountain. The mountain views all around were incredible too – rows and rows of blue ridges.

I am glad that we ended up doing this because it was a different type of activity that neither of us have done before. It was more fun than just driving up and doing Point Park on its own. Stay tuned for a Point Park post!

Incline Railway and Point Park24 — A close up of downtown Chattanooga as seen from Lookout Mountain.

Civil War history at the Chattanooga National Cemetery

We walked around the Chattanooga National Cemetery on Friday. The cemetery was established in 1863, as a place to bury Union Civil War soldiers after the Battles of Chattanooga.

It was a beautiful, somber place. We have been to Arlington National Cemetery, and it felt similar, yet different because of the surrounding mountains.

We made a special stop to see the Andrews Raiders Memorial, which features a bronze statue of The General locomotive, featured in the Great Locomotive Chase of 1862.

From Wikipedia: “The Great Locomotive Chase, or Andrew’s Raid was a military raid that occurred on April 12, 1862, in northern Georgia during the American Civil War. Volunteers from the Union Army, led by civilian scout James J. Andres, commandeered a train, The General, and took it northward toward Chattanooga, Tennessee, doing as much damage as possible to the vital Western and Atlantic Railroad line from Atlanta to Chattanooga as they went. They were pursued by Confederate forces at first on foot, and later on a succession of locomotives, including The Texas, for 87 miles.

Because the Union men had cut the telegraph wires, the Confederates could not send warnings ahead to forces along the railway. Confederates eventually captured the raiders and quickly executed some as spies, including Andrews; some others were able to flee. Some of the raiders were the first to be awarded the Medal of Honor by the US Congress for their actions. As a civilian, Andrews was not eligible.”

I had only vaguely known about the Locomotive Chase up until this point. I am enjoying living in a new area, and learning about its history.

Chattanooga National Cemetery18 — The Andrews Raiders Monument

Chattanooga National Cemetery17 — Some of the men who were executed for their part in the Andrews Raid. They all have the same death date as June 18. The light blue flag means they are Medal of Honor recipients.

Chattanooga National Cemetery19 — A front facing shot of the Andrews’ Raiders monument. In this photo, in the bottom left, you can see the headstone for James J. Andrews, who lead the raid. It is labeled “civilian.”