John Shearer: Lupton Mills Meadow Park In Lupton City Opens

On a site in Lupton City where yarn tufting machinery once ran, families and children can now run as well as walk their dogs or enjoy a nature stroll.

Amid a small gathering of a couple dozen people and two or three dogs Saturday morning, Chattanooga Parks and Outdoors officials opened the 12-acre Lupton Mills Meadow where the massive Dixie Yarns plant once stood.

The greenspace has in recent months been planted twice with native plants and grass seeds to replenish it, and it currently has a mowed grassy and dirt path open to the public, although added amenities are expected in the future.

Among those expressing much pleasure at the opening was Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly, who remembers how much of a mess the site was as he was coming into office. At the time, the mill, which had been closed since 2009, was in a slow process of being environmentally cleaned up after demolition had begun and state help was offered.

“Now it will be enjoyed forevermore,” he said of the land that the city took over in 2019. “It will be the heart of this neighborhood in this great and poetic transformation.”

Added city Parks and Outdoors administrator Scott Martin in also referencing the site’s past, “A neighborhood that had its employment base here is now going to be able to have its recreation and conservation here. If that doesn’t typify the Chattanooga story of us working at our best, I don’t know what does. It’s a real celebration.”

First-term City Council member Jenny Hill, whose district includes Lupton City, said that the day definitely marked a special moment for this site, adding that the cleanup was a topic about which she had heard much from her constituents.

“We can turn a brownfield into something we can all enjoy,” she said. “Today marks Day Zero for this park. Today is the day we all get to start enjoying it and taking our walks with our dogs, enjoying strolls with our kids and our loved ones.”

She also hinted that the future for the space will be as meaningful as Saturday’s momentous completion of prep work, because parks officials are letting the neighborhood residents come up with a new name and do additional visioning.

“I imagine years from now we will have more shade, even more beautiful flowers growing,” she said while encouraging attendees on Saturday to submit any ideas for a new park name.

The current land off Mercer Street and just beyond Lupton Drive is just an open space and sits near the old Lupton City gym, now boarded up and owned by GreenTech Homes, according to city officials. Just across the still-used railroad track is the old Lupton City Golf Course that is the scene of dirt-moving work as it is being converted into a luxury estate home development called Riverton Farms by John “Thunder” Thornton.

Some old rock sheds and some grassy property not owned by the city sit between the new meadow park and Mercer Street down from the gym.

Although the meadow part is now a peaceful and tranquil setting in a place where dozens of people once noisily worked, it still obviously has potential for plenty of improvement, officials emphasized. Although nothing has been finalized, the typical recommendations as monies become available might include a paved walking path, trees and benches, and maybe a pavilion, restroom and picnic tables, as Ms. Hill referenced.

While no trees currently sit in the meadow, some older ones across the railroad track on the under-construction Riverton Farms do add some visual enhancement.

City natural resources manager Anna Mathis told the gathering before the ribbon cutting that the current steps of adding some soils and native plants with long roots to cover the barren ground have been important in replenishing the soil and stopping erosion.

“Meadows are important not only for beautification but also for ecological health and biodiversity,” she said before leading a walk through the one-third-mile mowed trail.

Also attending the ceremony was state Sen. Bo Watson. Mr. Martin praised the work of the state in pushing for more state park amenities under Gov. Bill Lee.

“It leads the nation, and it is going to be paying dividends for decades,” said Mr. Martin.

Among those residents on hand for the gathering, which included free ice cream from a Clumpie’s food truck, was Frank Clardy, whose family has lived in Lupton City for decades. He, too, was excited to see the new meadow after watching the slow process of the mill site being cleaned up.

“This will be wonderful,” he said. “It had all sorts of bad stuff in the ground.”

He said that his grandmother ran the first boarding house on the uppermost street way back in the early days of this mill that was operated for a number of years by successful Coca-Cola bottler J.T. Lupton and his son, Cartter Lupton. Mr. Clardy grew up in the neighborhood and has continued to live there, saying his descendants will likely want his home as well.

While he has seen the physical view of the mill site change in this community that once had its own post office and people still live in renovated former mill worker homes, he has also noticed a change in people’s mental views.

“A lot of young professionals have moved in,” he said. “It’s just a different vibe to it now. It doesn’t have the same type of stigma for being a mill town.”

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Jcshearer2@comcast.net