Soldier Tourist - Point Park - Lookout Mountain, TN - Civil War Discovery Trail Sites on Waymarking.com

County of marker: Hamilton County
Location of marker: E. Brow Rd., near museum, Lookout Mountain
Marker erected by: Tennessee Civil War Trails

Marker text:

SOLDIER TOURISTS
*     *     *
The View From the Top Both the Confederate and the Union soldiers who fought in and around Chattanooga were struck by the region's scenic beauty. During the Union army's occupation of Chattanooga (November 1863 - Summer 1865), countless men hiked up Lookout Mountain to gaze out over the surrounding country-side, have their pictures taken for the folks back home, and walk through the mountain's rock formations. They no doubt shared the opinion of Elias Cornelius, a Congregationalist minister who wrote of the view in 1818, "The summit of Lookout Mountain overlooks the whole country ... with the view of an interminable forest, penetrated by the windings of a bold river, interspersed with hundreds of verdant prairies and broken by many ridges and mountains ... [providing] a landscape which yields to few others in extent, variety, or beauty."

Many of the soldiers posed atop the "palisades" at the northern end of Lookout Mountain's summit. In 1868, William F.G. Shanks, a Northern journalist, described the palisades as "a ridge of dark, cold, gray rocks, bare even of moss, which rise to the height of fifty or sixty feet, overhanging, arch-like, the beholder who looks up at them from their base; and which, seen from the valley, have the appearance of a crown encircling a human brow." Umbrella Rock on the palisades was an especially popular spot for photographs. Even generals, such as Ulysses S. Grant, posed on top of the mountain.

Type of site: Battlefield Address: 1110 East Brow Road Look Mountain, TN USA 37350 Phone Number: (423) 821-2812 Admission Charged: $5 or less Website: [Web Link] Driving Directions: Now this is tricky. The best bet is to sart up the mountain and at Ruby Falls, park take the incline and easy from there, but you have to walk some. Driving all the way up is confusing because homes and sub-divided road ways circle and zig and zag all around the mount. Be patient and eventually you get to the top.

Visit Instructions:
Post a picture of site showing the signage or other notable feature. Please tell what you saw or learned.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   08/02/2017 Benchmark Blasterz visited it 06/11/2012 Searcher28 visited it

View all visits/logs