October 2019 – Seeing the Scenic City

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.

McCoy Farm trail

McCoy Farm is in the town of Signal Mountain. It’s a historic house and grounds that dates to before the Civil War. The woman who lived in the home last, passed on down through the generations of her family, bequeathed the house to the town in her will.

Now, the town holds public events there, such as 4th of July picnics. They also hold private events. The day that we were there, they were setting up for a wedding.

On weekends the public is allowed on the grounds. I am sure this rule is amended if there are scheduled private events, such as when we were there, so we did not check out the house and buildings. There is also a blacksmith building and a barn.

There is a one mile walking trail that makes a wide loop around the grounds, which is open to the public every day. Last weekend we walked the trail.

It is a woodsy trail, and I enjoyed seeing some of the trees changing colors. There is also a swinging bridge to cross. It is a simple trail, but it truly felt like we were in the wilderness, and not just a few miles from downtown.

McCoy Farm trail3 — This is my favorite picture I took on the trail. I love the texture and shapes in the front, and the pop of color from the leaves in the back.

McCoy Farm trail31 — The swinging bridge.

McCoy Farm trail34 — Bright red leaves in the fall are my favorite!

McCoy Farm trail37 — The McCoy Farm main house.

Walnut Street Bridge

The Walnut Street Bridge is a pedestrian bridge that spans the Tennessee River in Chattanooga.

It starts on one side at Coolidge Park, and ends on the other side near the Bluff View District and Aquarium.

Walking the bridge was one of the local activities I had wanted to do the most, but we waited a while until it got cooler out.

The bridge was completed in 1891 and it is one of the world’s longest pedestrian bridges. It initially was open to vehicle traffic, but then was discontinued in use in the 1970s. It was restored and reopened in 1993.

There is some dark history surrounding the bridge too. In the 1890s, two black men were lynched on the bridge.

When we were on the bridge on a Friday morning, there were lots of people out and about. There were families, couples, tourists and exercisers.

The bridge seems large when it’s looming overhead, but once you’re actually up there walking across, it doesn’t seem so long. Going one way took about maybe 15 minutes, and we stopped to take a bunch of photos.

Crabtree Farms butterfly garden

I was recently at Crabtree Farms of Chattanooga for an appointment. It is a large farm that harvests produce and holds annual plant sales for the community.

I arrived to the farm early, and while I was walking around, I found a beautiful planted butterfly garden at the edge of the farm. It was a photographer’s paradise.

Sniteman cabin

I have been busy the past week, with interviews and appointments. This has been giving me the opportunity to visit and explore more areas.

I was at Greenway Farms, a park in Hixson, Tennessee, which is about 15 minutes from our place. It’s a large park with hiking trails, a dog park, community garden plots, and an old restored cabin.

The cabin is host to events throughout the year. While I was there, there was a type of mommy and me class happening.

The cabin was built in the 1850s by Christian Sniteman. The Snitemans were a pioneering family of the area.

It was originally tucked back into the woods, but was deconstructed and rebuilt again back out in the open.

Fairmount Orchard Apple Shop

I have been looking for fall related things to do. I found some you-pick apple orchards that are farther north of us, but I thought those could be saved for next fall.

Closer to home, I found the Fairmount Orchard Apple Shop on Signal Mountain. It is not an orchard that you can visit, but it’s the orchard’s shop where they sell their items that they have produced.

It was a small store, but worth the visit. The shelves were admittedly a little empty, but we had seen a recent post on their Facebook page that this was due to the on-going heat wave. I am sure now that it’s cooled down more apples will be coming in.

There were different apple varieties to choose from, in bags of different sizes. We got a small bag of Jonagold, because it is a kind that we had never had before.

Aside from apples, there was also apple butter and apple cider to sell. We bought both kinds. We had some of the apple cider last night and it was delicious.

The store also carried items like honey, soup mixes and dip mixes.

We will definitely make this shop a stop any time we are up on the mountain.

Driving up Signal Mountain

We live near the base of Signal Mountain, a community on top of the mountain. We have driven up there a few times, and have found some new places to explore and visit. It’s a short drive up there, only a few miles, but since it goes up the mountain, there is a section with some steep hairpin curves.

We first went up the mountain when my parents visited a few weeks ago, when I had only been officially living in Chattanooga for a few days. We drove around to get a feel for the area, and checked out some shops. On the way back down, I took a video of the hairpin section, plus some of the gorgeous views.

I already have quite a few Signal Mountain related things that I would like to write about, but I thought I would backtrack and show readers the drive first.

Blowing Springs Farm

Yesterday we went to Blowing Springs Farm, a farm that is open Fridays and weekends starting in late September through the month of October.

The farm is located just over the border of Georgia, which added another element of excitement for me. Now I can say that I’ve been to a new state. Everyone does it differently, but I do not count driving through!

The farm is mainly for families with young kids, but that has never stopped us before! However, we did see some groups with just older people too.

The main focus (and also the gift shop) of the farm is the See Rock City red barn, painted to look like a bird house. All though we have not seen any yet, there are advertisement barns all over the southeast on the sides of highways that have “See Rock City” painted on them. This particular barn is the only one you can actually see at Rock City, an attraction on top of Lookout Mountain. It will be fun to go to Rock City, hopefully sometime soon, and be able to look down and see the red barn below.

Admission is $10 per person and it includes four activity tokens. Each activity is one token. You can buy extra tokens if you want to. We picked out three activities (the ones that are more for us old folks.)

We did the corn maze, the hay ride and the critter coral.

The corn maze was bigger than I expected. At first I was disappointed because the corn stalks at the front were small and we towered over them, but once you got in the middle and towards the back, we were quite lost! They did a good job of making a lot of dead ends and turn arounds.

The critter corral had all kinds of smaller animals to pet. There were alpacas, miniature horses, donkeys, rabbits, pigs and cows. The cows had a lot of fluffy hair; they were my favorite.

The hay ride was small and short, but still nice. It entered through a back portion of the corn maze.

We also bought a pumpkin to take home at the pumpkin market. This cost extra so it did not use up tokens. I will use my leftover tokens for scrapbooking.

Some of the kid activities included a cow train, a corn sling shot, rubber duck races, and go cart races.

We had a great morning and I recommend it for anyone who’s looking to have a good fall themed outing.