John Shearer: Exploring And Searching For Greenways, Part 40 – Excitedly Finding Grass At Moccasin Bend

Although I had taken an eight-month hiatus from writing about greenways or parks within Hamilton County I had visited, I knew that several parks existed that I had not traversed or at least observed up close.

And with Chattanooga becoming a National Park City, according to Mayor Tim Kelly, and some smaller and unfamiliar neighborhood parks being highlighted by the city, I was inspired again to write about a few I have not yet visited.

So, with Saturday’s nice and sunny weather, I headed out around late morning for a large park that is hard to miss, even though I basically have to date. It was the Moccasin Bend National Archeological District, which was initially set aside as part of the local national park system in 1989.

Since I was still living in Knoxville when a lot of the plans for the Moccasin Bend district were being unveiled in more detail about 10 years ago, or it was in the news front and center, I somehow missed that Moccasin Bend already has three areas set aside for park visitors.

Two are trails going down to the bank of the Tennessee River and back from two sites alongside Moccasin Bend Road on the north and south ends of the Moccasin Bend golf course and wastewater treatment center. And the third is a beautiful and large field also beside a different part of the river just off Hamm Road and not far from the intersection with Moccasin Bend Road.

And, with some help from Tricia K. Mims, executive director of National Park Partners, I learned that additional wooded land on either side of Moccasin Bend Road going south to the mental hospital are also part of the district. She also said that the secluded police range across the road from the two trails is eventually scheduled to become a part of the land, too.

And who knows what will become of the hospital land on the southern tip of Moccasin Bend and most visible from across the river on Interstate 24. As a lover of historic architecture along with open space, I would hope at least one or two of the mid-century modern buildings there designed by noted local architect Mario Bianculli might be preserved if the hospital moves elsewhere.

Maybe they could revamp one of them and use it for a park visitors center, although it looks like the big field off Hamm Road – also called the Gateway to the park -- is pinpointed for that.

In late April 2022, I had visited the Blue Blazes Trail, the one on the southern end of the golf course and treatment facility. It is a 1.5-mile loop trail that for much of the way is just a cow path-type trail no more than 4 or 5 feet wide, or at least that was the case last year. Parts of it reminded me a little of how a wooded trail at Audubon Acres winds along the South Chickamauga Creek.

While I thoroughly enjoyed coming upon small bogs of water amid some ferns and wildflowers and getting to the Tennessee River and following it down to the golf course before turning back toward Moccasin Bend Road, it was also the time of year for snakes and ticks. So, I probably looked more like Tiny Tim tiptoeing through the tulips and ready to jump up in the air at a second’s notice if needed while visiting it by myself.

I learned by looking back at a sign on a photograph I had taken last year that the swampy and boggy areas had not been there for thousands of years but were created when the shoreline of Moccasin Bend was dredged to widen the river to build the freeway on the other side in the 1960s. The dredged matter was pumped into the interior, and the small lakes were created due to manmade dikes, the information said.

The trail is apparently called Blue Blazes Trail because of the water one sees from these mini-lakes and maybe along the river. The sign also says one can find an abundance of wildlife here. I hope that abundance does not start with an “s.”

While a nice trail that is mostly flat and can probably be traversed in 30-40 minutes of casual walking with one or two brief stops along the way, I also realized it is probably best to visit in the wintertime, although one would probably need to watch out for muddier places.

Due to the fact that nearly a year has passed, and the season was a month later, I am not including any pictures of that trail with this story.

When I realized Saturday that another trail space exists after looking at the map Ms. Mims had emailed me a few weeks earlier, I wanted to check it out and was maybe expecting it to be similar. So, within 15 minutes or so of leaving my Northgate area home and traveling through Red Bank and along U.S. 27 and exiting at Manufacturers Road, I suddenly found myself parked at the small parking lot by this trail, called the Brown’s Ferry Federal Road Trail.

A sign says it is a 1.2-mile round trip trail (up and back) and that it crosses parts of where the Trail of Tears took place in 1838 and where Civil War supply wagons traversed in the early 1860s. The sign also references the fact that humans had occupied the Moccasin Bend site for 12,000 years. So, I was not exactly discovering a new place, even though it was for me.

When I climbed out of my vehicle, I saw a man probably in about his 30s with his basset hound. He amicably told me the trail went down a half or three quarters of a mile to the river, and that it had an open space or two. As a result, I realized it might not be like the completely wooded Blue Blazes Trail.

Since it was a cool morning likely to keep the snakes in their holes but was not uncomfortable for humans, I jogged along through the space wider than most of the other trail without fear of seeing animals too close for comfort or stepping in a hole.

There was a small section of mud and standing water where a simple boardwalk had been built in sections, but the rest of the trail was nice, including running through some grassy spaces under power lines. I even saw one nice swamp or small creek and lake off to the side early on, and walked down in the high grass and took a picture of it, something I would not have done in May or June due to the critters.

After I had gone through some more woods, I came upon something that surprised me, but in a very good sort of way. It was a grass-covered opening dotted with a few trees. It was about 50 yards by 100 yards in size and went up to the Tennessee River.

Since I had expected only a peak at the river through some woods, as was the case with the other trail, this was a pleasant sight to see. In fact, I was almost overcome with emotion after realizing once again that I had come to a beautiful place in Chattanooga accessible to all and relatively easy to reach. There was no climbing several hundred feet in elevation, only a walk or jog of about a half mile from a parking spot less than five minutes from downtown Chattanooga. And I had the place all to myself on this day, so I felt richly blessed.

And this riverside spot did not feel like Ross’s Landing by the Tennessee Aquarium or the Tennessee Riverpark off Amnicola Highway. It seemed more rustic and away from development, even though the land of the wastewater treatment facility was just across a nice wooden fence. This was probably in the general area where there was once a car dirt racetrack in the 1950s.

Across the river were some small hills, which were not developed like the area across from the Blue Blazes Trail, and this added to the enjoyment.

The only negative I saw was caused not by man, but by mother nature. Despite the placement of some large bric-a-brac rocks, erosion had still taken place there along the shore. Whether that was done before or after the rocks were placed there, I am not sure, but hopefully further erosion will not result.

I soaked that setting in for a few minutes, including looking at Baylor School off in the distance down river, and then returned to my car, realizing to my surprise on the way back that the young man’s basset hound had traversed about two-thirds of the way to the shore. That was one critter I enjoyed seeing!

I then climbed in my car and started realizing that when I played on the golf team at Baylor and would be driving down this road on the way to the Moccasin Bend course, I would hardly have noticed this land, although I remember well the Pineville School farther north.

This time I did notice it, and the older buildings that are part of the wastewater facility and even an old barn as I turned left onto Hamm Road. I even let my imagination run wild and started visualizing how they could make the treatment facility tanks water hazards for the nearby course and maybe teach people to hit the ball straight!

Within a few moments, I was at the large field that was part of the Moccasin Bend National Archeological District. I assumed it would be closed off with no trespassing signs and that I would quickly try to walk out onto part of it and get a few pictures, while hoping no one saw me.

To my surprise, though, when I parked my car, part of the fenced entrance was open, and the historical signs welcomed people to come there – but, of course, not to dig for or take any potential artifacts.

By this time, I was thoroughly enjoying the adrenaline rush that has come several times over the last couple of years or so after noticing a greenway space I did not know existed. I had first started wondering if something like this could be found when I would see TV reports from some kind of open space before the worthwhile Cameron Bean Memorial 5K Run. I was glad finally to find it.

This is the area that might become a visitors center site, but I was enjoying it as a field.

I was the only one there on Saturday, and I soaked up the beauty of the space just as I had the part of the previous trail near the river. In fact, I felt almost like sprinting in happiness out the diagonal trail noticeable in the field, although knowing some holes could likely be found off that trail in the growing grass.

I did stop and take a few pictures of the field, as well as of a nice house sitting above it with a coveted view of greenspace. I went out to the park sign by the river, which was likely erected to let people on the water know what was there. On the river, which at this point is just down from the Olgiati Bridge and a mile or so from where I was a few moments earlier due to the large stream’s loop around the bend, I saw a dozen or so barges sitting there in multiple lines.

They almost looked like an armada stealthily sitting and waiting for some kind of upcoming task. I did hear two workers talking as they were doing some kind of work on the edge of one barge. They were likely working hard while I was using the river area simply for pleasure.

After soaking this all in, I walked and partly jogged back to my car, taking a few more pictures and being amazed at how re-energized I felt.

And the fact it was at yet another place I had not visited before, and one right under my eyes, made me enjoy it that much more.

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Part of my goal with this series was also to try and find potential greenway or park space that at least I would love to see preserved in a rapidly developing Chattanooga and Hamilton County. In recent months I have noticed two areas across Airport Road from the back of Economy Honda and Sam’s Club that are nice flat fields. I did not investigate who owns them or any plans for the sites, but I have accompanied photographs with this story.

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To see the previous story in this series, click here.

https://www.chattanoogan.com/2022/7/2/451877/John-Shearer-Exploring-And-Searching.aspx

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jcshearer2@comcast.net