John Shearer: Bob Edwards Dreaming Of A Ridgeside Area Park

Chattanoogan Bob Edwards has lived in and traveled to several faraway and interesting places, including China and Taiwan. But the place he discovered that might be most special to him right now is not far from his home, and he came across it basically by accident.

It is a site at 235 Shallowford Road that he calls Ridgeside Farm and includes 3.45 acres. It is on the east edge of Missionary Ridge and across the street from the Shepherd Hills subdivision.

He had stumbled across it in 2009 while out walking. He saw a toppled and buried sign that the tract was for sale and purchased it for $60,000.

He later became acquainted with some of the members of the historically black Missionary Ridge Baptist Church that was adjacent to the site before the congregation moved to 3778 Wilcox Blvd., and he was able to acquire the church building and the cemetery on a $10 quit claim.

Since then, he has cleaned up the property and has tried to stabilize the church building, although he admits that is not easy when a building sits unused and when homeless people have occasionally tried to get into it.

But what he has not been able to clean out from his mind is a thought of what he would like to see done to it. While he would love to get market value for the land, he also wants to see it taken over by a governmental entity or non-profit trust and used as some kind of park or historical center instead of just becoming housing.

“I’m going to do this or die trying to advocate for these 3.45 acres,” he said recently as he stood on the property that is uniquely pastoral despite its urban setting in a part of Chattanooga developed decades ago.

And his ideas are as varied as the differing hardwoods on the grass and in the small woods on one side. He envisions the land possibly being a park or center related to the nearby Missionary Ridge Civil War battle, or maybe a city or county park. He has also thought about a park highlighting the black heritage in this part of town, or even a small outdoor music venue with its sloping/amphitheater-like undulation in the back. 

He has talked with local Chattanooga history museum advocate Jim Thompson and others about considering it for the site of that potential museum, but it has only been basic discussions, he said. He has also been told regarding any Civil War connections that the main part of the Battle of Missionary Ridge occurred on the western slope before the Confederates fled south through the eastern slope where his land is.

Still, he believes the patterns of movement of today are significant as related to his land and a potential museum of some sort. “Our location would bring in lots of people,” he said.

The idealistically thinking Mr. Edwards has also had some discussions with other nearby residents about possibly getting perpetual preservation easements on undeveloped land contiguous to his property. That could create a potential park of about 20 acres and could include bike or walking trails. However, none of that has been formalized and is just a idea, too, he said.

But Mr. Edwards, who also serves as president of the Chattanooga Civitan Club, does not want to let the dream of at least some form of preservation die.

Now in his early 60s, he moved here about 30 years ago, he said. He had attended Mountain Brook High School in the Birmingham area as the son of a pathologist and geneticist, who also served in the Air Force. Bob’s mother, meanwhile, was an English professor.

Through his father’s career that took him around the country, Bob Edwards also lived in the Washington, D.C., area and Biloxi, Ms., and later attended and played soccer at Rhodes College in Memphis.

He also taught what he believes was the first high school Chinese class in this area at St. Andrews-Sewanee School beginning in 2006. He also later taught at McCallie School and has worked in Hamilton County Schools.

Beginning way back in 1984, he taught English in remote China after studying in the country the year before.

He has almost been like a utility man in baseball, as he has also held several other diverse jobs, according to his extensive resume he passed along.

He is married to Jan Chang Zhan, who grew up in China but whom he met at Nagoya Restaurant on Brainerd Road after she came to UTC to study accounting. They have one son, Thomas Edwards, who went to McCallie and Sewanee and is following in his father’s traveling footsteps by recently living in Japan.

A self-proclaimed political conservative – who says he has the Facebook posts to prove it – Bob Edwards also has an admitted sympathy for and interest in all types of people and persuasions. That is partly why he has become interested in both the Civil War in Chattanooga and the history of the black community that settled that part of Chattanooga.

“The best thing that ever happened to Chattanooga was the Civil War. It brought people from everywhere,” he said.

The active member of the North Brainerd Community Council has also tried to learn as much as possible about the black community that settled this part of Chattanooga. Before Shepherd Hills was built before World War II, this area off the western end of Shallowford had been a popular area of black settlement. He thinks some of the black residents might have worked for white residents on Missionary Ridge in the earlier days of more limited opportunities for them.

The nearby Pleasant Garden Cemetery across Shepherd Hills from his property is additional evidence to this black settlement. That is where Walnut Street Bridge lynching victim Ed Johnson is buried along with some of the Scottsboro Boys, who historical records say were wrongly accused of rape in the early 1930s.

He also learned that a black elementary school was started in the area right after the Civil War.

“This should be considered holy ground for our black brothers and sisters,” said Mr. Edwards. He added that he has talked to such people as the late City Councilman Moses Freeman to get additional history and learned that former state Rep. C.B. Robinson’s family was connected to the church on his property.

The church has a plaque on it stating that it started in 1874 as Mission Ridge Baptist Church and was believed to be the first black church in the Missionary Ridge area. The building on his land is not believed to be the original church, he added.

A few aged grave markers dot the woods behind the church. The rest of the property has a nice pastoral setting with several older trees that would be ideal for sitting under during the warmer seasons and enjoying a “picnic on the grounds.”

Some dirt that Mr. Edwards believes was likely dumped in the back of the property during the 1960s interstate construction through the ridge or some other construction is evident, based on a sharp slope in the back.

But it does not take away from the look. And Mr. Edwards hopes it also looks even better one day and is accessible to many Chattanoogans and others to learn some history and enjoy the natural aesthetics of the small parcel.

As he said while glancing over the property during the recent tour, “This property has so much history. And I think this would have an impact. This is the front door to Chattanooga.”

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Jcshearer2@comcast.net