This morning we explored Booker T. Washington State Park, located on Chickamauga Lake. Booker T. Washington is the closest Tennessee State Park to Chattanooga.
Booker T. Washington has a few hiking trails to pick from. From what I’ve seen online, some of the longer ones are great for bicyclists. We picked the shorter Nature Trail, just over a mile long.
This was a nice trail. It is entirely wooded, and at times it runs along side the lake for a great view. The trail is a little rocky and covered with tree roots, so be careful and make sure you watch where you step!
The start of the trail is near the recreation area, where we hung out for a bit, enjoying the scenery. I am jealous of anyone who owns a boat or a kayak! We even saw a seaplane! It was a perfect morning for being out on the water.
At the edge of one of the recreation areas. There are pavilions, picnic tables and a playground.
A fishing pier.
I’ll take this boat, please. Or I’ll settle for being friends with these people!
Some really nice houses! Which one would you prefer to live in?
My first job while living in Chattanooga was working for a start-up newspaper in Dade County, Georgia, which is just over the Tennessee/Georgia state line. One day this past winter, while searching for article ideas, I found Lookout Lavender Farm. While the farm is not in operation during the winter, it would make a great story come summer time. Well, the paper has since shut down, so no article could materialize, but that didn’t mean that Derek and I couldn’t check it out for ourselves!
Lookout Lavender Farm is located on Lookout Mountain in Rising Fawn, Georgia. Every year the farm opens up for a short two-week lavender season. People are invited to pick bundles of lavender, but if you don’t want to pick, then you can just come up to enjoy the fields.
It cost $10 to get in, $5 a person, and a u-pick bundle is $7. They were also selling their own line of lavender products. We bought lip balm.
It was a lovely morning, and the lavender fields smelled amazing! We spent some time picking our bundle, and then we just enjoyed walking through the lavender. We made sure to get a lot of photos! The fields are the perfect place for portrait photography.
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.
