The local National Park Partners is urging the State Building Commission to reject a plan that would have the Moccasin Bend Hospital rebuilt at the current site, with a reduced footprint. The panel meets next Thursday.
The local legislative delegation and the County Commission earlier went along with keeping the hospital at the toe of the historic Bend.
The local parks group said, "When legislation was passed in 2003 to create the Moccasin Bend National Archeological District, the 780-acre boundary completely surrounded the 88-acre campus containing the State of Tennessee's Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute.
State officials committed to the public that when funding became available, the hospital would relocate and the vacated land would be preserved forever by the National Park Service.
"With federal funding secured for a modern facility to replace the now 60-year old building,
a generational opportunity exists for the State of Tennessee to follow through on that promise.
"Now is the time for Tennessee to rethink the land use decision made decades ago, before the 12,000 year history of Moccasin Bend was well-documented through careful archeological studies...
"Before the iconic peninsula became the image on the Chattanooga City Seal
in 1975 and before the granting of National Historic Landmark status in 1986...
"Before Moccasin Bend was designated as the
only National Archeological District in the entire country in 2003...
"In just a few days the State Building Commission will review a proposal at their September 14 meeting to rebuild the new mental health facility on Moccasin Bend, rather than choosing another location.
"As the great Maya Angelou famously said, 'When you know better, do better
.'
"Now, we know that 23 modern day American Indian Tribes trace ancestry back to the earliest Paleo-Indians who hunted and gathered on Moccasin Bend. We know the existence of Woodland-era mounds on the current hospital property and the likelihood of far more culturally sensitive resources embedded in this sacred ground.
"We know Moccasin Bend represents a crossroads of major historical events from its inclusion into Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park; the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail; and the Underground Railroad National Network of Freedom.
"We know better. Now let's do better.
"Join National Park Partners in urging Tennessee to take a collaborative, transparent, and deliberate approach to this incredibly important decision. Moccasin Bend needs your advocacy today."