Chattanooga – Page 5 – Seeing the Scenic City

Freelance articles for The Pulse

I have written two freelance articles for The Pulse, Chattanooga’s weekly paper, which focuses on feature type articles like events and local artists.

My first article, which was published last Thursday, was about Chattanooga’s community gardens. The piece is titled, “Get Your Hands Dirty.” This article was pitched to the editor before I even moved out here.

The second article is about The Bonnie Potter, an artist who specializes in textured pottery. It is titled, “Clay and lace.” It was just published today.

It’s great to have freelance work to fall back on while I have been job searching. I was able to freelance when we first moved to Houston as well.

These articles made me feel good about myself, and gave me a little bit of daily purpose. It is very hard to not have a job for a few weeks. Things get boring quickly!

You can read both articles here:

"Clay And Lace" by Rebecca Hazen

Bonnie Scoggins, known artistically as The Bonnie Potter, has dozens of in-progress clay plates, mugs, and bowls drying on a shelf at her in-home studio in Red Bank. On another shelf are piles of doilies, ready to be imprinted into clay. Follow link to read more.

"Get Your Hands Dirty" by Rebecca Hazen

Community gardens in Chattanooga help all types of communities. One garden helps the underserved. Another is a club providing teaching. Follow the link to read more.

Head of the Hooch

Derek and I surprisingly found ourselves to be a part of a large watch party this afternoon of the Head of the Hooch Regatta.

The Head of the Hooch is a two-day rowing regatta held the first weekend in November in Chattanooga. It was originally called the Head of the Chattahoochee, due to its location in Georgia on the Chattahoochee river. The event became so popular that it outgrew its spot, moving to Chattanooga in 2005.

I knew that the regatta was held today, but I had not looked into it enough, so I did not realize it was an all-day, two-day event. I thought it was only a morning race. I had said to Derek, “Maybe we could go watch it another year, it’s too cold to be there right now.” (We just had a strong cold front go through and its been in the 30s in the morning.)

In the early afternoon I suggested we go to Bluff View to get drinks from Rembrandt’s Coffee House, and then walk across the Walnut Street Pedestrian Bridge. We first walked to the Bluff View overlook, and we just so happened to watch the start of a women’s 8 person team race.

We started to walk across the bridge and watched some more races there, along with hundreds of other onlookers.

It was neat to stumble upon something extra like that during our afternoon outing.

Head of the Hooch19 — The crowd up on the bridge watching the rowers.

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 and Point Park57 — This bend in the Tennessee River is known as Moccasin Bend.

Incline Railway and Point Park76 — An enlarged painting of The Battle Above the Clouds in the visitor’s center.

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.

First impressions of Chattanooga

I have officially been a Chattanooga resident for over two weeks, in addition to the week and a half I spent here throughout August, with one foot in Tennessee, and the other foot in Texas.

I’ve been thinking about the differences between Chattanooga and Houston, and my first impressions of the area, which has grown into a long list.

Even though we moved up north, I feel more in the “south.” Everyone is so friendly, there is a church on every corner, and most everyone I came across in the first few days had an accent.
Grits, grits and more grits! In Houston, I had to make a specific trip to Target when I wanted to stock up, and even then they only had the Quaker Instant kind. At our new local store, Food City, there was a whole shelf dedicated to different kinds of grits, including homemade kinds. Grits are on just about every restaurant menu I’ve seen, and I’ve bought them at the Chattanooga Market too.
The mountains are gorgeous. I don’t think I will ever tire of looking at them. When I left Food City that first morning after we moved in, Signal Mountain loomed over me on the drive home, and I was in awe.
Another Food City related thought: The check out system is different. The cashier takes your cart and unloads it for you on their side. I watched this happening with the customer in front of me and at first I couldn’t figure out who was the cashier and who was the customer. I think my confusion showed because the cashier explained it to me. I told her I was new to the area and then her and the bagger both gave me recommendations for things to do in the area. How friendly!
There isn’t any Chattanooga traffic to speak of, except for some areas that get a little backed up due to construction. We are driving the same amount of miles to get to places (no more than 10-15) but the drive times are shorter.
It is a lot easier to get around in Chattanooga and gain a sense of direction. After three years in Houston we were still largely unfamiliar with the city.
It still feels just as hot as Houston does, but the mornings and evenings are cooler. It is also less humid too, which is doing wonders for my hair, haha.
It is quiet here at night. Almost too quiet. It is strange to not hear the Metro whistle, cars whizzing by, and the occasional loud group of people walking on the sidewalks.
I love the Civil War history everywhere! We have explored a lot of downtown and riverfront areas, and there are plaques everywhere, detailing what happened over 150 years ago.

Sculpture Fields

Derek teaches a night class, and I’m at home for now until I find a job, so we have the morning and the early afternoons together. It’s nice that he has the time to spend with me, instead of when he was a busy student at the University of Houston, so we try to put most mornings to good use.

Last week I looked online for free things to do in Chattanooga, and we found Sculpture Fields at Montague Park.

According to sculpturefields.org, the park is 33 acres, and is the largest sculpture park in the Southeast. There are a couple of paths that go around over 40 large sculptures.

With both of us having art backgrounds, it was a place that we both enjoyed visiting

Sculpture Fields1 — “Anchors” by Peter Lundberg

Sculpture Fields2 — “Red Tree” by Ruth Midgal

Sculpture Fields4 — “Temple Mayan” by Linda Howard

Sculpture Fields5 — A wider view of the park and the paths, with Lookout Mountain in the background.

Sculpture Fields16 — “The Least Amount of Space” by Jason Kimes

Sculpture Fields19 — “Star Center” by Linda Howard

Sculpture Fields25 — “Duke” by John Clement in the foreground, with other scattered sculptures in the background.

Bluff View Art District

The Bluff View Art District is a small section of Chattanooga next to the Tennessee River, filled with historic homes.

There are a few inns, art galleries, restaurants, a bakery and a coffee shop, to name a few, and there are sculptures scattered throughout the properties. There is also a sculpture garden as well.

We ended up at Bluff View because I picked out Tony’s Pasta Shop and Trattoria, an Italian restaurant, for my belated birthday dinner. The reviews are in and Tony’s will become a favorite place for us. I had the shrimp scampi, and there was plenty more on the menu that I want to try. The portions and prices were both reasonable. I recommend making a reservation though! The place was packed, but that is always a good sign.

While waiting for our name to be called for a table, we took a quick walk to the sculpture garden and the bluff overlook. After dinner, we walked around the entire district (it’s only 1.5 blocks.)

Chattanooga3 — View of the Tennessee River from the overlook.

Chattanooga18 — Tony’s, where we had dinner. Delicious!

Chattanooga30 — A sculpture titled “Grandfather.”

Chattanooga19 — This alley felt like it belonged more in Italy, not Chattanooga.

Chattanooga24 — One of the inns. That front porch looks inviting!

Chattanooga27 — The front of Rembrandt’s Coffee House. This is another place that we will have to check out in the future.

Officially here

I left Houston on September 12, and I am now in Chattanooga for good.

I drove “home” for the last time on Thursday, and my parents drove from Maryland to visit us for a long weekend. We have not seen them for a year and a half. Driving to Tennessee is much easier than driving all the way to Texas.

Over three days, we saw and did a lot, some of which Derek and I had already done together in the previous month, but some things were new as well.

Some things that we did and went to included the Chattanooga Zoo, Coolidge Park, the carousel at Coolidge Park, explored the town of Signal Mountain and Signal Point park, Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel, explored UTC’s campus, the Chattanooga Market, Moonpie General store and Clumpies Ice Cream.

Instead of posting hundreds of photos in one long post, please look for individualized posts about some of these places in the near future.

My parents’ first impression of the city was a good one. My dad said to me, “I think we are going to have a lot more fun here than we did in Houston.” Nothing against Houston, of course. I believe that Chattanooga is just a better fit for all of our interests.

In our exploring, we also discovered some things that we would like to do in the future. We would like to do a dinner or lunch cruise on the Southern Belle River Boat, go to the Tennessee Aquarium, Rock City and Ruby Falls. Mom and dad are closer now, so there will not be years between visits. I am sure Derek and I will also do these things on our own as well.

We had a good three days, but in the meantime, now I have to get back to “work.” Derek and I spend the mornings together, and when he leaves for work, I do chores around home, and apply for jobs. Hopefully something works out soon.

Chattanooga Choo Choo

“Pardon me boy, is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo?
Track twenty nine! Boy you can gimme a shine
Can you afford to board a Chattanooga Choo Choo?
I’ve got my fare and just a trifle to spare
You leave the Pennsylvania station ’bout a quarter to four
Read a magazine and then you’re in Baltimore
Dinner in the diner, nothing could be finer
Than to have your ham ‘n’ eggs in Carolina
When you hear the whistle blowin’ eight to the bar
Then you know that Tennessee is not very far
Shovel all the coal in, gotta keep it rollin’
Woo, woo, Chattanooga, there you are…”

I quickly learned the words to Glen Miller’s Chattanooga Choo Choo when I found out that we were moving to Chattanooga! My dad loves trains (he works as a breakman on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad as a retirement job) and he instilled that love in me. Seeing the Chattanooga Choo Choo hotel was at the top of my to-do list in Chattanooga.

The hotel is in an old train terminal building which was built in 1906. It was supposed to be demolished, but it was saved and restored. Now, it is a beautiful hotel, and much more. There are shops and restaurants attached with a garden out back, and of course, the famed “Choo Choo.”

We explored the grounds this morning, and had brunch in the Frothy Monkey, which is a coffee shop attached off the lobby. It was a great morning. My parents are coming to visit in a few weeks, and I’ll be glad to get the chance to go back again so soon.