Once upon a time,
this land was a refuge.
As ice covered North America, countless plant and animal life – from mammoths and bison to paddlefish and chestnut trees – retreated here, to the Appalachians, as a place of survival. Then, as ice began to thaw, life expanded outward. What was surviving began to flourish.
This is the spirit of the park, long before parks existed.
Our particular story begins here, at the end of this mountain range, under the presence of one particular mountain. Here, a community of indigenous peoples named this mountain: Tsatanugi, or, as local lore has it, “rock coming to a point.”
For centuries, the Creek, Cherokee and Shawnee lived near this mountain, Tsatanugi, and the river that has flowed through this valley for ages, creating one of the most ecologically diverse and precious places on earth. As European settlers moved into the area, they renamed Tsatanugi, calling it “Chattanooga.”
The land turned into a settlement, then a city within an official state called Tennessee.
Battles were fought. A people removed. Floods came. A downtown established. Twentieth-century industry arrived.
Then, something shifted.
Chattanooga began to clean up.
Moccasin Bend Task Force
In the 1980s, a small group of citizens began discussing ways to conserve Moccasin Bend, home to this area’s earliest human settlements some 12,000 years ago. Their questions would form the origin of our modern renaissance.
What if we preserved Moccasin Bend with intention and integrity?
What if conservation could strengthen our identity as a city?
A nonprofit began hosting community meetings, with nearly 2000 people participating and voting on ideas to revitalize downtown and the riverfront.
“Nowhere, according to journalists and urban planners at the time, had such a process been attempted,” reported the Times Free Press.
A nonprofit began hosting community meetings, with nearly 2000 people participating and voting on ideas to revitalize downtown and the riverfront.
What if we rethink our downtown?
What if the Tennessee River becomes an integrated part of the life of every Chattanoogan?
What if we built a downtown aquarium?
People jeered. Scoffed. An aquarium? It will never work. Idea’s crazy.
In the end, generosity and vision won the day. With one of the largest philanthropic gifts in our city’s history, Chattanooga unveiled the Tennessee Aquarium in 1992. Now, three decades later, our Aquarium was named the best in the US.
The Aquarium led our modern conservation movement, including efforts to restore sturgeon, paddlefish and darters to their native range across the American South.
This was National Park City work before such a thing existed.
Remember: people initially scoffed at the aquarium.
Will never work, they huffed.
Nor would a multi-day riverfront festival. Or a riverwalk connecting 16 miles of downtown neighborhood. Or the world’s fastest Internet. Or the arrival of VW and rebirth of automotive manufacturing. Or Quantum. Or Ironman.
Chattanooga is home to the first all-girls STEM school in the state. A trail system connecting mountain forests to the city and back. A company that builds playmaking structures for parks around the world. A soccer – sorry, football – team owned by the public. A breeding program to reintroduce red wolves, nearly lost forever, back into the Southern wild.
Our identity has been shaped by brave vision, ingenuity and fortitude. The idea of an American military park was born here. Our steel mills manufactured armaments for WWII. The Tennessee Valley Authority – the nation’s largest public power utility – has its roots here. Moccasin Bend is America’s only national archeological district.
Today, Chattanooga’s placemaking transformation is the envy of cities across North America.
Once again, we bravely ask a new question:
What if we became North America’s first National Park City?
This isn’t about an institution, we said.
It’s about intention.
We collected stories and responses from thousands of residents, then, wrote a National Park City charter with seven core commitments:
Our city is a park. Our stories are our strength. Everyone is doing the work.
National Park City: Chattanooga is already happening.
This is one of the most ecologically rich and precious places in the world. From the Cumberland Plateau to the Paint Rock watershed and the Hiwassee River, this land provides life to plants and animals rarely found elsewhere.
From the Cumberland Plateau to the Paint Rock watershed and the Hiwassee River, this land provides life to plants and animals rarely found elsewhere.
