Spring break: Chattanooga style
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BY MARY ANN ANDERSON / Knight Ridder Newspapers
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — In the South, daffodils are already shooting out of the ground, buds are forming on the dogwoods and magnolias, and students, cooped up in the classroom all winter, are getting restless with anticipation of warmer weather.
These signs point to only one thing: Spring’s a’comin’!
For a warm weather destination, try something different, something offbeat, something Chattanooga.
Chattanooga?
Well, why not?
Chattanooga, home of the Choo-Choo and the gooey MoonPie (the one you wash down with an RC Cola), offers the warmest of welcomes with its genuine hospitality and casual, slow Southern style.
From a high bluff overlooking the Tennessee River, Chattanooga is laid out in a colorful fusion of mountain, river, forest, and sky. Shadowed by the green foothills of the Cumberland Plateau and crowned by Lookout Mountain, the city is staged upon natural beauty, a glittering downtown and clean air.
But it hasn’t always been this way.
Chattanooga, now the poster child for urban revitalization, once was a smoky, pollution-filled virtual ghost town whose population was stagnant. In fact, Walter Cronkite reported that Chattanooga was “America’s dirtiest city” — an “award” also bestowed by the Environmental Protection Agency — because of all that pollution bellowing out of factories dotted along the riverfront. So dirty was the air that drivers often used their headlights in daylight.
Well, that did it. The city took great offense to Uncle Walter’s words and vowed to clean up the air. Since then, Chattanooga scrubbed itself clean and has arisen from the soap bucket to become a magnet for tourists as the nucleus of Southern culture and history, arts, shopping, and antique browsing.
Chattanooga, cradled by natural and scenic wonders, is home to the beloved Rock City Gardens (remember those red-barn emblazoned signs urging you to “See Rock City!”), Ruby Falls, Lookout Mountain (See Seven States!), the Tennessee Civil War Museum, Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park, and Incline Railway (America’s Most Amazing Mile!).
In addition to these treasures, there are now lots of other ways to entertain yourself in this little city located at the intersection of Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama.
There’s the Tennessee Aquarium, Chatta-new-ga’s sparkling showpiece and one of the catalysts that helped redefine the city as it began its renaissance in the 1980s. The freshwater aquarium, one of the world’s largest, is a maze of iridescent pools, lagoons, and tanks teeming with sharks, stingrays, piranhas, and thousands of other fish and exotic creatures. Part of the Tennessee Aquarium includes the very cool IMAX 3D Theater, a showpiece of three-dimensional technology.
For the kid in you — and the kids, too — Bud Ellis’ Horsin’ Around is America’s original carousel carving school, where you can watch students carving, assembling, and painting carousel animals. Ellis, who began his school by repairing old carousel horses at night for the fun of it, his students and other master carvers created the dazzling carousel of Coolidge Park, a merry-go-round parading with 52 hand-carved animals.
Coolidge Park, another of Chattanooga’s popular attractions, is a sliver of river park that meanders the banks of the Tennessee River. It contains not only that wonderfully and vibrantly colored carousel, but also Walnut Street Bridge, the world’s longest pedestrian bridge, as well as hopscotch courts designed by Chattanooga sculptor Jim Collins, an interactive fountain bubbling over with water-spouting sculptured animals, and endless shops and restaurants.
Don’t go to Chattanooga without visiting the Bluff View Art District, a funky, trendy neighborhood rising above the stone cliffs and tranquil waters of the Tennessee River. The Bluff View Art District, anchored by the River Gallery and Sculpture Garden, is a melange of restaurants, shops, museums and galleries that beckon with the aroma of freshly ground coffee, toasty breads and sweetly scented pastries from restaurants like Back Inn Cafe, Tony’s Pasta Shop & Trattoria, Renaissance Commons and Rembrandt’s Coffee House.
Within walking distance of Bluff View is the Hunter Museum of American Art, with works by Andrew Wyeth, Winslow Homer and Mary Cassett, and the Anna Houston Museum of Decorative Arts.
Other museums around the city include the Chattanooga Regional History Museum, the Chattanooga African American History Museum, the International Towing & Recovery Hall of Fame and Museum dedicated to tow trucks and wreckers and such (no, I am not making this up!) and the Creative Discovery Museum, a “hands-on,” interactive museum devoted to the fun, creative side of learning for children ages 2 through 12.
Remember drive-in movies? Lawn chairs and blankets scattered on the ground or the hood of the car on warm spring evenings? Giant boxes of Raisinettes, Sno-Caps, and Milk Duds? Backseat smooching if the movie was bad — or even if it was good?
The Wilderness Outdoor Theater, a new drive-in open in spring, summer and early fall, features the world’s largest single-screen outdoor theater. Located on a terraced hillside on the Georgia side of Chattanooga in Trenton, just 15 minutes from downtown, the theater has enough room for 1,000 cars.
Spring in Chattanooga is a great place to discover new attitudes about fun, variety and diversity — and rediscover the fine art of making out at the drive-in.
If you go
For more information, contact the Chattanooga Area Convention & Visitors Bureau at (800) 322-3344 or visit or www.chattanoogafun.com.
Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport is served by Delta Connection, American Eagle, Northwest Airlink, USAirways Express, and Continental Airlines.
Numbers of chain hotels are located in Chattanooga, but for something different consider:
—The Chattanoogan, Chattanooga’s premier luxury upscale hotel and spa. Telephone (877) 756-1684 or visit www.chattanooganhotel.com
— Chattanooga Choo Choo Holiday Inn, a landmark hotel offering sleeping parlors aboard authentic rail cars. Telephone (800) 872-2529 or visit www.choochoo.com
— Bluff View Inn, luxurious bed-and-breakfast accommodations that include three separate homes. Telephone (800) 725-8338 or visit www.bluffviewartdistrict.com
— Sheraton Read House Hotel & Suites, known as “the treasure of Chattanooga,” is a grand Georgian-style hotel listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Telephone (423) 266-4121 or visit www.readhousehotel.com
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