Jerry Summers
The luxury River Point development now stands on the site of the former Pine Breeze Sanatorium on Stringer’s Ridge in Hamilton County, Tennessee.
The history of Pine Breeze is filled with stories of the treatment of patients suffering from tuberculosis (TB), mentally disturbed juveniles, and paranormal stories of satanic activities.
Pine Breeze treated many patients for TB from its inception in 1909 when it was chartered and its closure in 1968 and conversion to other uses.
TB has pretty much been eradicated through the invention of drugs that have been called “magical”.
Throughout history TB which was once called “consumption” is an infectious bacterial disease that has plagued mankind.
Tennessee was once ranked as one of the leading states in incidence of TB cases and Hamilton County was often ranked as the number one TB county in the state.
Pine Breeze initially was a place where people were sent to die because of TB.
A book titled “The Road From Pine Breeze” (2010) by author Elizabeth Long on Amazon.com tells the true life story of Jo Price, who entered Pine Breeze when she was 16 years old suffering from advanced TB in both lungs.
She was placed in the terminal wing known as “death row”! Her story of her experiences while she was at the sanatorium is gripping and shocking. Her 2009 interview with local historian Harmon Jolley and the contents in her book relate a painful journey that probably only a person with a strong Christian faith could have endured.
The bright red brick buildings often belie what happened at Pine Breeze. The gloomy description of the premises by Mrs.
Price and the administration of multiple hypodermic shots through the rib cage and into the pleura cavity and through the stomach every few hours sound like a form of torture from the Middle Ages but was the prescribed form of treatment during the 1940s-1960s.
Streptomycin was then the drug of choice but had to be given in the form of a shot every six hours for four months.
Eventually a drug called para amigo slicic acid (pas) was developed and helped eradicate (or control) TB in the United States.
With the curing of TB the hospital fell into inactivity and closed in 1968 but in the late 1960s it re-opened for the purpose of treating emotionally disturbed children as the Pine Breeze Center and was used in that capacity until 1981-1982 when the juvenile patients were transferred to Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute.
With the closing of the sanatorium came the usual ghost stories about spirits that still haunt the premises in spite of the new luxury complex.
Whether fact or fiction, reports of mental patients being chained to the walls, and the presence of a pentagram on the floor of one of the abandoned buildings in the 1990s made from broken chunks of concrete and white stone have been told.
Further reports of red substances (that looked like blood), unreadable words written on the walls and rumors of goats being sacrificed by “Satanists” have been conveyed by teenagers who have visited the premises to drink alcoholic beverages or to “turn on” by the use of drugs.
Around 1995 the buildings were demolished and the luxury development emerged.
Whether any spirits from Pine Breeze have presented themselves to any of the new owners has yet to be disclosed but who knows what might happen on a cold damp and wet night at the former site known as Pine Breeze?
One historical remnant to the past of Pine Breeze is the recording of musical songs led by a young college graduate in 1975, Ron Williams.
He started working at Pine Breeze as a teacher, counselor and supervising the juveniles in the dormitory at the facility.
Williams came up with the idea of recording music from local musicians in the area to preserve times that may have originated as far back as the 1920s.
Most of the musicians that were taped were not professionals who earned a living from playing music. They enjoyed playing at Chattanooga’s old time fiddle contests, square dances and community events.
The song “Old Chattanooga” was recorded by a trio of Pine Breeze patients and Ron Williams relates it that is very popular and well-known on present day social media and YouTube.
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Jerry Summers
(If you have additional information about one of Mr. Summers' articles or have suggestions or ideas about a future Chattanooga area historical piece, please contact Mr. Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com)
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