Chickamauga and Chattanooga Administrative History

A. General Administration and Personnel

The transfer of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park from War Department control to that of the Department of the Interior's National Park Service occurred on August 10, 1933. Part of a larger Government reorganization under the New Deal administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the move was consistent with an increase in the number of historical parks and national monuments developed under the National Park Service during the early 1930s. The transfer also meant more burdensome work for Superintendent Richard B. Randolph, who remained in charge of the park, for he assumed direction of not only Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, but of the following: Chattanooga National Cemetery, New Echota Marker (Georgia), Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Site (Georgia), King's Mountain National Military Park (South Carolina), Cowpens Battlefield Site (South Carolina), Castle Pinckney National Monument (South Carolina), Fort Pulaski National Monument (Georgia), Fort Marion National Monument (Florida), Fort Matanzas National Monument (Florida), and Stones River National Park and Cemetery (Tennessee.) [1]

Under the new management several changes at these sites were anticipated. National Park Service Chief Historian Verne Chatelain planned to inaugurate a large-scale interpretive program utilizing guides and free literature to promote the intelligent enjoyment of the historical parks. At Chickamauga and Chattanooga knowledgeable guides would be posted at selected greeting stations and pamphlets distributed instructing visitors about the park and how best to see it. If tourists desired, guides would also accompany them over the ground at no charge. The Park Service also planned to build several new roads leading "to neglected spots of deep historic interest," to install road signs to direct visitors, and to beautify the landscape through planting of wild flowers at places like Snodgrass Hill and Wilder Tower. Work by the Emergency Conservation Work Camps (later the Civilian Conservation Corps) continued on Lookout Mountain building the long-sought comfort station and caretaker's lodge as well as new retaining walls, terraces, and gutters. [2]

As indicated, the Park Service also assumed administration of Chattanooga National Cemetery, a previous responsibility of the War Department. The cemetery had been established by Major General George H. Thomas in December, 1863, following the battles around Chattanooga. It was situated on a hill southeast of the center of the city and most of the tract had been acquired by the Government in 1867, 1870, and 1884. After 1890 the city received permission to improve part of the reservation outside the cemetery and shortly established a park beyond the east wall. In 1905 another piece of the peripheral tract was turned over to the Tennessee Militia for raising an armory, stables, and a riding hall. Part of this land was a slough and later was filled in by CCC workers, while a portion to the west in 1927 was authorized by the War Department for use as a city pound. The National Guard moved from the site in 1939. [3] Between 1933 and 1945 the National Park Service maintained the cemetery--repairing roads, painting, repointing walls, etc.--although the Quartermaster Corps of the Army continued to provide headstones, arrange burials, and handle disbursements. In 1935 Park Service officials aided German authorities in the erection of a monument to German prisoners-of-war buried there during World War I. During World War II, however, the condition of the cemetery deteriorated and, said one critic, became "a disgrace to the veterans buried there." The Chattanooga American Legion mounted an effort to have the cemetery returned to War Department supervision, [4] and in 1945 the tract was duly transferred back to the War Department. [5] The action was considered "typical of the endeavor of the [National Park] Service to concentrate its activities in the fields primarily covered by the basic act establishing it." [6]

Through the middle 1930s Superintendent Randolph made occasional trips to his other areas of responsibility, notably Stones River, near Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Funds had to be expended to maintain the new areas as well as continue upkeep on buildings and equipment at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. Many employees lived in buildings scattered throughout the park and its component reservations and paid rent for the structures with deductions from their salaries. [7] A major change took place on June 23, 1936, when park administrative facilities were moved into a new Administration Building at the north entrance along Lafayette Road from their previous location in the Chattanooga post office building. The new structure provided offices for the Superintendent, his administrative staff, and museum and historical personnel, besides space for a library and museum exhibits. [8] Randolph occupied the building for little more than a year. By that time the rigors of the past had taken their toll and he suffered a nervous breakdown from the weight of work and responsibility. Randolph had been park superintendent since 1911. On August 31, 1937, he retired, but remained in his home at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park until his death a few weeks later. [9]

Randolph's successor, likewise to enjoy a lengthy tenure at the park, was Charles S. Dunn, who joined the staff shortly after Randolph retired. Dunn had served with the U.S. Forest Service in North Carolina and Virginia since 1915. Joining the National Park Service in 1930, he worked with the CCC camps before becoming superintendent of Shiloh National Military Park in Tennessee. He would remain as superintendent of Chickamauga and Chattanooga until 1961. [10] Dunn's long administration of the park, while productive, was marked by controversy and clouded by stormy relationships with his superiors. [11] Early in his stewardship Dunn presided over development of a site identification project on the Civil War Atlanta Campaign designed to provide interpretive features outside the park, and final construction of a stone memorial to Adolph Ochs on Lookout Mountain. [12]

In 1940 a ten-cent admission charge was approved at Point Park for persons sixteen or older. The fee was not assessed until 1941 after turnstiles had been installed, but its implementation caused a minor uproar in Chattanooga, where the charge was viewed as discriminatory. Chattanoogans, having footed the bill for much of the development of Lookout Mountain, believed they were now being forced to pay again, and the issue touched off a debate over Dunn's administration. [13] The superintendent hoped that the fee, for one thing, would discourage citizen guides from entering Point Park for the purpose of soliciting business. Many of these commercial guides dressed to approximate Park Service personnel and unwary tourists were often approached by them. The National Park Service offered free guide service and the presence of the commercial guides proved confusing and somewhat misrepresenting. Moreover, the civilian guides often knew little about the history they endeavored to explain to visitors. Eventually the guides were excluded by National Park Service regulations forbidding the conduct of business in a park area. The commercial guides were required to bring their parties to the Point Park entrance then turn them over to uniformed park guides for the tour of the Point. [14]

Other administrative developments in the mid-1940s included an unsuccessful congressional attempt to change the name of the park to Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Historical Park. This was opposed by Dunn as violating the original conditions under which the park was established, notably "the preservation of the fields more for military value than for history." [15] In 1945 the Chattanooga National Cemetery was returned to War Department management, [16] and a local union of the American Federation of Government Employees was organized at the park. [17] More attention was given to building a guide program, and in 1948 the incorporation of the community of Fort Oglethorpe and the adoption of zoning restrictions were viewed as a positive advantage for park concerns. [18] Another change was the approved transfer to the Georgia Department of Parks of maintenance responsibility for the Atlanta Campaign roadside markers and the New Echota Marker. [19] When in early 1950 the local press presented allegations about the "unsightly condition" of the park, the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce sent a committee to investigate. The committee came away impressed with Superintendent Dunn's positive efforts "in maintaining the natural beauty of the area" and particularly pleased with "the plan of scattering picnicking throughout the area." [20] In 1955 Dunn presided over inception of a cooperative agreement with the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities relative to the restoration, furnishing, and exhibition of the Cravens House. [21]

Dunn's retirement occurred October 31, 1961. Early in 1962 John O. Cook was appointed his successor and transferred from Arizona, where he had served as superintendent at several parks. [22] Under Cook's leadership several innovations were made. From February, 1962, forward the Lookout Mountain portion of the park functioned as a district in the charge of a supervisory park ranger. Cook later introduced an in-depth interpretive program utilizing firearms demonstrations, cannon exhibits, and guided walking tours of the battlefield. He refurbished horse trails and established new ones in the park, and with the assistance of local civic organizations laid out new hiking trails. In 1963 the Civil War centennial was observed with special events involving ten states making presentations at the park. [23] Another important event was the designation of Point Park as a Federal recreation area under the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965. Proceeds from admission fees, raised to fifty cents in 1966, were to go to the fund to aid in purchasing other Federal and state recreation sites. The increased fee was not popular and probably accounted for a marked drop in visitation at Point Park in 1966 and 1967. [24] Late in 1968 the park temporarily adopted the policy of closing Point Park and Chickamauga Battlefield on Thursdays and Fridays after cutbacks in Federal permanent positions caused reductions in the park staff. [25]

In June 1969, Donald K. Guiton, a career employee with service in Wyoming, South Dakota, Utah, and Colorado, was designated to replace Superintendent Cook, who was reassigned to the Southwest Regional Office. [26] Guiton favored dropping the entrance fee to Point Park and eventually suspended it during the off-season. He also appointed Roy Evenson unit manager for Lookout Mountain, responsible for all operations there, including interpretation and maintenance. Guiton further directed the erection of mileage signposts on hiking trails on the mountain. [27] In the early 1970s the park employed guides as part of the National Youth Corps program both at Chickamauga Battlefield and Point Park. Work-study programs were also initiated to help in developing and maintaining trails. In 1973 Rolland Swain became unit manager of Point Park and directed his efforts towards making the Lookout Mountain site separate from the rest of the park. During the year visitation increased for the park, with some 14-1/2 million persons in attendance. [28] Also, a new master plan for the park was started under the guidance of National Park Service personnel from the Denver Service Center. Progress on this document became delayed, however, and stretched over several years. [29]

In July 1975, Superintendent Guiton was transferred to Florida. Robert L. Deskins, assistant superintendent at Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, succeeded Guiton. A West Virginia native, Deskins had worked with the Job Corps at Mammoth Cave and had recently completed the Department of the Interior management development program. [30] His staff at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park consisted of about thirty employees with additional staff added during summer periods. Changes during Deskin's tenure included the start of Federal fee collection at the Cravens House and transfer of on-site interpretive programs there to the Park Service from the Association for Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities. A major reorganization of management took place in 1977 when the Interpretive and Resource Management Divisions were combined under Park Historian Edward E. Tinney. Russell Cave National Monument, Alabama, was placed administratively under control of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, and Ranger John Mapel was transferred there as unit manager. Another significant development occurred in 1976 when Superintendent Deskins inaugurated the "concert in the parks" series, wherein the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra conducted several performances at Wilder Field. The programs, while entertaining, were in later years subjected to criticism by persons who believed that the park's purpose had been compromised. [31]

In 1979 Deskins was reassigned back to Mammoth Cave National Park. National Park Service Director William J. Whalen selected Merideth Ann Belkov to succeed him. Like Deskins, Belkov was a graduate of the Department of the Interior management training program. She had formerly served as chief of visitor services at Washington's National Visitor Center and before that had worked for the city's recreation department. [32] Thus far, Belkov's administration has had to contend with circumstances stemming from general economic recession and budget cutbacks. In 1980 and 1981 reductions were made in the number of both permanent and seasonal positions, although most park programs went unchanged. [33] The decade of the 1980s clearly promised to be one of challenge, innovation, and frugality for those charged with determining the park's course.

B. Park Development

Park development over the years of National Park Service administration has been constant and ever-changing. During the first years of the Great Depression the park gave employment to several hundred men for three months in a clean-up program sponsored by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. [34] Perhaps the most construction was the erection of the Administration Building during the early 1930s. This structure, built of Briar Hill Stone with slate roof and with woodwork of cypress and pine, was a Public Works Project (PWA) completed by the Ray M. Lee Company of Atlanta at a cost of $53,939.92. The building contained a large reception room in the center and two wings. The north wing contained rooms for park guides, historians, and patrolmen, besides a library; the south wing contained administrative offices. [35] Other construction at the same time included raising a brick utility building north of Dyer Road, laying a 1,500-foot sewer line from the Administration Building to the Superintendent's residence and the Hitching Post, paving the grounds around the Administration Building, and building component maintenance facilities. [36] In addition, plans were drawn for completing trail location maps for Lookout Mountain, Point Park, and Chickamauga Park, [37] and development plans for Point Park and the Cravens House were in preparation. [38] The National Cemetery at Chattanooga also drew attention, and during the 1930s labor provided by the park and by CCC workers supplemented that of the cemetery staff in filling a health-menacing slough outside the cemetery's west wall, a task that required the removal of a portion of that wall. [39] Other maintenance activities during the 1930s involved oiling road surfaces and mowing historical fields in the park. [40] In 1939 a six-year master plan was adopted that envisioned the restoration of the battlefields, to embrace planting or clearing, to correct those areas deemed not representative of the battle sites of 1863 Furthermore, trails obliterated over the years were to be reopened as bridle paths and roads without historical significance were to be closed. As none of the existing historical structures in the park was present in 1863, Park Service officials proposed removing the buildings (including employee homes) and marking the sites of all original structures with bronze tablets. Only the marking of sites was accomplished, however. Interpretive exhibits were to be erected at key points along park trails. [41]

One project came to dominate all others in the late 1930s. This was the conception by Chattanoogans to build a memorial to the late Adolph S. Ochs, who had been a prime contributor to the park and community through much of his life. As principal mover behind the development of Chattanooga-Lookout Mountain Park, subsequently donated after his death to the National Park Service as an adjunct to Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Ochs deserved an appropriate memorial. A committee of citizens was formed and succeeded in enlisting support for a plan to build a museum-observatory at Point Park, a plan which Park Service authorities fully endorsed. [42] In May 1938, the Service approved the proposal. Soon after the memorial committee turned over $12,000 to the National Park Service for construction of the "Adolph S. Ochs Observatory-Museum" at Point Park. Work started in 1939 with the CCC providing much of the labor and the project under direction of architects from the Region One (Richmond) headquarters of the National Park Service. Stone for the project was transported from a location on Lookout Mountain, a few miles south of Point Park. [43] The memorial, built on the site of Linn's old photo studio, was dedicated on November 12, 1940, with Vice Chancellor Alex Guerry, University of the South, presiding, and journalism author Elmer Davis as principal speaker. [44]

Changes continued into the 1940s. In 1941 a park master plan was approved, although National Park Service Director Newton B. Drury rejected requests for building contact stations at Sherman Reservation, Orchard Knob, and Skyuka Springs, and for construction of employee residences in the park. [45] A weather station was built at the Snodgrass Tower Lookout, and the observation towers at the Bragg and DeLong Reservations were dismantled. [46] In 1942 permission was given the Southeastern Pipe Line Company of Atlanta, Georgia, to lay a subsurface line for transporting petroleum products, and in that year provisions were made to allow hay in the park to be cut and sold by the highest bidder, thus freeing park workmen for other duties. [47] And in conjunction with the war effort a scrap metal drive was held in the autumn of 1942 that netted over 205 tons, including broken historical tablets, a large number of surplus cast iron shells, and an old boiler. A proposal to scrap the metal from existing park monuments was not acted upon. [48] In 1947 a program of trimming trees and foliage to improve the vistas in the park was prepared in accordance with recommendations of regional personnel. About this time, too, recommendations were made for razing Cravens House on Lookout Mountain which had become dilapidated. Instead, however, extensive repairs were made to the structure. [49]

Substantial construction occurred at the park in the 1950s. In 1953 the John Martin Company of Chattanooga registered the low bid of $63,400 and received a contract for building a "museum wing addition" on the Administration Building. The work was completed in February of the following year. [50] Other construction involved the location of a picnic area along Sanders Road, building a parking area and foot trails at Signal Point, and completion of comfort stations there. In 1955 a Lookout Mountain Picnic Area formally opened for public use and the parking area at the Administration Building was enlarged. [51] Construction at Signal Point was finished in 1958, and a sewage disposal system was completed at Point Park by 1961. That year also witnessed repairs to the Kelly and Brotherton Houses on the Chickamauga field. [52]

Similar developments proceeded through the 1960s. In 1962 the ninety-eight-year-old "Hitching Post," a cabin across from park headquarters that years earlier had been a tea room and restaurant, was torn down and its lumber sent to build a caretaker's home at Cravens House on Lookout Mountain. New benches were placed along trails at Point Park, and a new lighting system was completed in the Ochs museum. [53] "Little by little," wrote Superintendent Cook, "this important visitor contact point is losing its jail-like appearance and [is] beginning to resemble a NPS museum." [54] In addition, parking areas at Brotherton House and Snodgrass Hill were broadened, and a footpath traced at the top of Snodgrass Hill to aid visitors. Other projects soon in progress involved construction of trailside exhibits at Signal Point and Wilder Tower and opening the Blue Beaver Hiking Trail on Lookout Mountain. [55] Tentative long-range plans in 1965 called for building a wing for exhibits on the Administration Building, a visitor center at Point Park, and a contact station at Sherman Reservation. [56] The latter place had become "a jungle, a hangout at night for teenagers," and concerned Chattanoogans urged that a ranger be stationed there on a full-time basis. [57] In 1966 construction and paving of the tour road was accomplished, and the following year the park employed Neighborhood Youth Corps workers from Chattanooga in clearing vistas, improving trails, and policing the grounds. [58]

These activities continued during the early 1970s. A "Playing Field" was planned for the area near Wilder Tower, and in 1972 removal of historical markers and cannon along Lafayette Road (U.S. Highway 27) occurred in preparation for a relocation of that route. Several more tour roads were made one-way, and traffic signs were installed. Operations in 1974 included the adaptation of the ranger residence on Lookout Mountain into an office and renewal of the cooperating agreement with the Association for Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities regarding the interpretive use of Cravens House. [59] In 1975, as part of the new General Management Plan (master plan) for the park, a transportation study began looking to improve the interpretive experience of visitors and determine feasible alternative routes for U.S. Highway 27 and its non-visitor traffic. During the year washed-out trails on Lookout Mountain underwent rehabilitation, and in 1976 the Ochs museum at Point Park was refurbished inside and out and new exhibits installed. Similar maintenance projects on the trails of Lookout Mountain continued in the early 1980s with members of the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) performing valuable service. [60]

In 1976 Superintendent Deskins filed a "Statement for Management" for Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. This document provided a synopsis of the condition of the park at the time, and ably presented the immediate challenge that it faced in the future:

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park is subjected to intense recreational pressures leading to crowding and non-conforming uses which are often in direct conflict with the original purpose of the Park. It is bisected by a major U.S. Highway which is the main thoroughfare through the western portion of Georgia when traveling north to south. The remainder of the park in Tennessee, especially the outlying areas, are faced by streets, roads, residential and commercial structures. The major single unit of the Park (Chickamauga Battlefield) is constantly forced with uses incompatible with the historical theme of the area. [61]

Clearly, the park's location in a highly urbanized setting threatened its deviation from the course charted in 1890, promoting philosophical as well as practical questions regarding its direction in the future.

C. Land Acquisition and Boundaries

As in all national parks, matters of land acquisition and disposition have been of prime importance at Chickamauga and Chattanooga. When the National Park Service assumed administration of the park in 1933 the land area totaled some 5,533 acres. Considerable changes have occurred in the intervening years; today the park area encompasses 8,095.41 acres, of which 16.79 are non-Federal land.

The 1930s proved to be an era of expansion for many national parks, including Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. The gift in 1935 of nearly 3,000 acres embracing Chattanooga-Lookout Mountain Park through the efforts of Adolph and Milton Ochs comprised an addition totaling more than half the national military park's then existing acreage. [62] Further donations by the town of Lookout Mountain (Sunset Park and Spring Creek Park) and various individuals between 1936 and 1940 added several more acres. And in a 1939 offer of a donation of five acres by the town of Signal Mountain subsequently helped in the improvement of the park unit and installation of geological exhibits there. Acceptance of this small tract, approved by Congress in 1942, was nonetheless delayed by legal complications until 1948. The Government reciprocated for these parcels with small conveyances to Catoosa and Dade Counties, Georgia, which reduced overall park acreage. [63]

In 1938 a boundary survey was projected for the park. It was during this period that park administrators conceived a plan to extend the east boundary of Chickamauga Battlefield to Chickamauga Creek. The lands there were of historical importance and the plan was tentatively approved pending passage of requisite legislation. [64] This came in 1940 with Georgia Congressman Malcolm C. Tarver introducing a bill for an appropriation of $125,000 to implement the acquisition by purchase or condemnation proceedings. But President Franklin D. Roosevelt vetoed the measure, citing his belief that the acquisition should be made from donations of property and money rather than from public funds. [65]

Several small donations of property were made to the park in the early 1940s, including the Ochs Gateway tract on Lookout Mountain. Likewise, more property deemed inconsequential to the park's interest was given over to Tennessee and Georgia. In 1943 some 310 acres were conveyed to Dade County, Georgia, for use in a state park. [66] Boundary studies were conducted in 1945 on the west slope of Lookout Mountain. Beginning in 1946 a plan was drawn for alleviating the parking congestion at Point Park by Government purchase of property lying south of the unit. [67] Also during the 1940s attempts were made to enlarge the acreage of the Signal Mountain tract to permit development of trails and parking facilities. Legislation passed Congress in 1942 authorizing acceptance of a donation of land from the Town of Signal Mountain. [68] The Signal Mountain Garden Club spearheaded the project, but acquisition by the Government was delayed by litigation until 1948, when approximately five acres were turned over to the National Park Service. [69] Construction of the parking area and a comfort station was completed in 1956, exhibits were installed in 1964, and the Signal Point unit was formally dedicated two years later. [70]

A most significant land matter arose concurrently with these improvements. This involved the acquisition of land from Fort Oglethorpe, designated as surplus property by the Army. Regional personnel recommended acquiring all the land on the reservation, particularly all that up to the north side of the parade ground. Brick residences on the tract might be utilized for park employee housing. The attainment of the entire fort tract was justified on the basis of its historical associations with Chickamauga Battlefield. [71] Acquisition was viewed as a priority right to protect the park against encroachment by private enterprise. Moreover, the land had originally belonged to the park before the fort was established. In 1947, however, the War Assets Administration proposed giving the National Park Service only a strip of land north of the park along Reed's Bridge Road, a total of about 100 acres. Technically, the land lay "generally north of the present south line of Fort Oglethorpe and westward from the southeast corner thereof." Included were three buildings containing five sets of quarters. A bill for this purpose passed Congress, was signed by President Harry S Truman, and became effective October 26, 1948. The remaining fort property was sold for home sites. [72]

Another local tract gaining attention by Park Service personnel at this time was the Moccasin Bend area of the Tennessee River, west of Chattanooga and directly below Point Park. A group of Chattanooga citizens hoped to acquire Moccasin Bend for a municipal park, a project Superintendent Dunn supported because it would insure preservation of "the aesthetic view from our park and preclude factory occupation of the area." [73] Efforts to acquire the property at Moccasin Bend began in 1943 and lasted into the 1950s. By 1949 a plan had evolved to add the area to Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park with the financial aid of the State of Tennessee, Hamilton County, Chattanooga, and private donations. According to National Park Service Director Newton B. Drury, "city and county would each contribute $50,000, the State $100,000, and private donors the balance of the approximate $250,000 cost." [74] In 1950 legislation was enacted in Congress authorizing the addition to park lands of 400 acres and was approved by the President. [75] Next year the Tennessee legislature passed an act to acquire the Moccasin Bend area for a national park and funds for the purpose were so budgeted. Preparations were made by the City of Chattanooga to condemn lands beyond city limits for park purposes. [76] But Moccasin Bend never was acquired; the administration that entered office in Tennessee in 1953 opposed the movement, blocked payment of the State's funds, and the project shortly succumbed a victim of Tennessee politics. [77]

Major land transactions involving the park declined following the Moccasin Bend episode. During the early 1980s further attempts to obtain land to build a visitor center and a parking lot at Point Park met with strong opposition from Lookout Mountain residents. In conjunction with a boundary realignment in 1965 plans were made for eventual disposal of 160 acres of nonhistorical land lying northeast of Chickamauga Battlefield. Park officials still hoped to extend the south boundary of the park to Chickamauga Creek and favored an exchange of properties in the affected areas. [78] Over the next two years bills seeking this end were introduced in Congress by Representative John W. Davis of Georgia. [79] In 1969, the National Park Service purchased three tracts south of the park that completed park acreage to Chickamauga Creek. [80] Soon after Congress passed, and the President approved, a measure authorizing disposal of the unwanted northeast parcel to Catoosa County, Georgia, for use in building a high school. [81] This transaction was completed with conveyance of 160 acres to the Catoosa County Board of Public Education in 1971 and 1972. [82]

More recent developments regarding land matters include the successful campaign of a Lookout Mountain civic group called Help Our National Park to prevent commercial development on two adjacent Lookout Mountain parcels. In 1972 the group was instrumental in arranging with the Nature Conservancy the donation of the threatened acreage to Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. [83] During 1973, 1974, and 1975 a Bureau of Land Management Survey of park holdings on Lookout Mountain was completed and in the following year about twenty-five boundary markers were placed. This important survey was conducted to accurately determine the boundaries of the unit's 2,800 acres. In 1976 some small lots were turned over to local property owners who had challenged Government claims to them. Also, certain roads leading out of the park were closed to discourage private development on adjoining lands. [84] The most recent major land developments concerned the 1977 donation by the town of Lookout Mountain of nearly three acres encompassing Sunset Rock, and the acquisition, through the privately-endowed National Parks Foundation, of the property fronting on Point Park, including a shop, a residence, and a parking area, all to be used for visitor orientation purposes. Cost of the 8-acre Point Park tract was $265,000. [85] Another acre of property was authorized for addition to Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park in 1980. [86]

D. Roads

Under National Park Service administration road development and improvement continued at Chickamauga and Chattanooga from the 1930s to the present. In 1933 there were 72.43 miles of roads in the park, with some $510,000 earmarked for maintenance following transfer from the War Department. [87] But early in 1934 an agreement concluded with Catoosa County, Georgia, placed maintenance of all of Ringgold Road outside the park with the county once that highway was improved. The National Park Service contracted for its regrading and resurfacing. In 1934 and 1935 improvements were completed on Alexander Bridge and several approach roads; some roads and trails were obliterated, while paving of parts of the Reeds Bridge and Lafayette roads was accomplished. [88] Several miles of roadways were graveled and oiled in 1935 by workers from Emergency Conservation camps located in the park. In 1936 Superintendent Randolph observed that the road system "has been very much improved with Public Works funds administered by the Bureau of Public Roads of the United States Department of Agriculture." [89] Another transfer of an approach highway occurred in 1938 with conveyance to Walker County, Georgia, of the McLemore Cove Road. [90]

During the early 1940s work began in surveying and improving the Glass Mill Road along with others in the park with the aid of the Public Roads Administration. Most of the construction was completed under contract with private firms. [91] In 1948 certain remaining approach highways were transferred to the State of Georgia; these consisted of the Lafayette Extension Road south of the park, the Reeds Bridge Road to the east, and the Lafayette Road to Rossville north to the Tennessee line. Simultaneously, the Vittetoe-Chickamauga Road southwest of the park, the Lee and Gordon Mill Road, and part of the Glass Mill Road were conveyed to Walker County, Georgia. The road portions transferred totaled ten and one-half miles. [92] The policy of relinquishing possession of Government roads continued into the next decade. In 1954 several park-owned streets in the community of Chickamauga (formerly Crawfish Springs) were deeded to the town. The Government donated $50,000 to Chickamauga for maintaining the streets. [93]

Longtime efforts to relocate U.S. Highway 27 continued during the 1950s and 1960s. For years unsuccessful attempts had been made to route through traffic, especially trucks, around the park on alternate highways to eliminate congestion and danger to park visitors. In the early 1980s the objective of the Mission 66 program facet for Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park was relocation of U.S. 27. Resisting proposals to build a four-lane highway across park land also occupied Service personnel, [94] but elimination of the old road bisecting Chickamauga Battlefield was of paramount concern under a master plan prepared in 1964. That plan envisioned relocating the highway to skirt the west boundary of the park and restoring the battlefield to its 1863 appearance. National Park Service authorities agreed to finance much of the construction should Georgia highway officials approve it. [95] During the late summer of 1966 the state began a preliminary survey for the relocation of the road. By then it was planned to build the new four-lane highway for commuters to the west, retaining the old road for park visitors. This plan contemplated the removal of seventeen stone monuments, one of them weighing forty-two tons, from the path of the newly projected highway onto adjacent ground. [96] In addition to the monuments, part of a road, a parking area, and a trail at Glenn Hill near Wilder Tower were removed in 1966. [97] Public hearings were held in 1967, [98] and in his annual report for that year Superintendent Cook summed up as follows:

The relocation of U.S. Highway 27 was brought one step closer to reality in 1967 with the completion of a preliminary survey to determine the exact route. It now remains for the State of Georgia to continue the project. Highway 27 bisects Chickamauga Battlefield. When it is relocated it will skirt the western edges of the park and separate visitors from commuter traffic with greater safety resulting for all. Relocation will also reduce nighttime access to the park which will significantly reduce vandalism and other protection problems. [99]

From that point forward the road project met successive delays stemming largely from legal compliance requirements of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Although an Environmental Impact Statement financed by the National Park Service for completion by the State of Georgia was underway in 1977, the entire project was given a lower priority by the Georgia legislature that year. Meantime, necessary historical and cultural surveys of alternate routes ordered by the Advisory Council additionally slowed progress. [100] Contingent on the relocation of U.S. Highway 27, the park hoped to revise its battlefield tour route and develop a tram system for guided tours of the park. While public hearings went on regarding the matter, park officials concerned themselves with installing bicycle paths and new trail signs in 1979 and 1980. Budget cuts in 1981 again stalled the relocation of Highway 27, and in August, 1982, Secretary of the Interior James Watt decreed that the thoroughfare through the park would not be widened to four lanes. [101]

E. Civilian Conservation Corps

Much of the road construction at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park during the 1930s and early 1940s was tied in with other work projects completed by Civilian Conservation Corps personnel under the Emergency Conservation Works Administration. In June 1933, two 200-men camps were authorized for the park. These were to be administered by the War Department but supervised by the National Park Service which was then about to assume management of the area. [102] The first camp, occupied by black workers and complete with mess halls, kitchens, and baths, was placed at Fort Oglethorpe, just outside the park, and was called Camp Booker T. Washington. Superintendent Randolph estimated that the men would help in "grubbing out underbrush, trimming and thinning out the trees, taking down dead timber and other miscellaneous work in beautifying the grounds, caring for the roads, trails and etc." [103] Some of their labor went to repair roads and general clean up projects at Point Park. Members of the Booker T. Washington Camp were shortly divided into CCC Camps MP-1 and MP-2, at Chickamauga Park (Fort Oglethorpe). Another CCC camp, known as Camp MP-5, was organized that autumn at Chattanooga-Lookout Mountain Park and contained a large number of white forestry workers from Idaho and New York. [104] This unit was named Camp Adolph Ochs. Later, a Civil Works Administration facility was founded on the west side of Lookout Mountain and was named Camp Demaray. This camp soon became CCC Camp MP-6. Crews from both camps planted bushes, dogwood, and other shrubbery along the roads on the mountain, laid concrete sidewalks, and built benches, picnic tables, and stone ovens. A retaining wall was built around Point Park, and gutters and sidewalks were placed there. A number of men from the mountain camps were assigned to the park to provide lectures and guide service to visitors. [105] Meantime, the Chickamauga Park camps worked to check erosion, remove stumps, mow the fields, prune and remove dead timber, open fire trails, and repair roads. [106] Total strength of the four CCC camps in 1935 was about 700 men. Work programs were coordinated by Emergency Conservation Works Administration personnel stationed at park headquarters. [107]

During 1935 scheduled CCC work involved grading soil around park monuments, laying flagstone walks at the DeLong and Bragg Reservations, repairing bridges, and constructing a horse trail on Lookout Mountain. Other projects entailed planting more Dogwood trees and removing a large number of trees from around Wilder Tower. [108] Early in 1936 one of the camps on the Fort Oglethorpe reservation, MP-2, was disbanded. [109] The remaining unit at Chickamauga Park spent the balance of the year planting trees, maintaining roads, preventing erosion, and adjusting slopes, while the Lookout Mountain camps built more fire trails, erected a cable guard along the highway, and undertook development of several scenic and historical trails. [110] In 1937 men from the various camps constructed a bridge across Lookout Creek near Skyuka Springs, built a foot trail between Point Park and Cravens House, and planted trees around the Administration Building. In September Camp MP-5 was disbanded, shortly followed by Camp MP-1, as the Civilian Conservation Corps program for the park gradually concluded. Only Camp MP-6 on the west side of Lookout Mountain remained; because of insufficient work this camp, too, was eventually terminated on October 1, 1939. [111] However, CCC activities continued through the services of a nearby unit in Tennessee, and late in 1940 plans were made for establishing a new camp at the park. [112] In 1941 CCC Camp Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park, Tennessee NP-4, was set up on Lookout Mountain and continued much of the fire protection work started earlier. The camp was closed in April, 1942, the last CCC association with the park. [113]

F. Park Protection

Law enforcement and protection remained an important duty at the park after its transfer to the National Park Service. The problem of livestock control was partly alleviated when all cattle were prohibited from grazing on park lands after January 1, 1935. But repeated incidents of theft and vandalism plagued officials throughout the 1930s and 1940s. For example, in 1934 cannonballs composing the shell monuments had to be spot welded together to curb thefts of the relic ordnance. And in 1940 park rangers were kept busy watching for persons stealing small pine and cedar trees during the Christmas season. [114] More serious problems, such as the discharge of raw sewage onto park lands by residents and private businesses on Lookout Mountain, also drew the attention of park authorities. Threatened court action prompted settlement of the matter by one offending enterprise in 1947. [115] Generally, however, park law enforcement personnel have concerned themselves with a myriad of petty offenses, such as disorderly conduct and desecration and damage to the monuments. In 1967 the Illinois and Maryland monuments were damaged, the latter most severely. In 1981 and 1982 more vandalism occurred to monuments located on Missionary Ridge. Incidents of poaching and automobile accidents were also happening with greater frequency. [116]