Thursday and Friday, April 27 and 28

On Thursday, we left Wendy & Carl’s place around 8:30.  All of the day was spent in the car as we covered over 435 miles, finally stopping at Fort Mountain Campground, in northern Georgia.  The state park is within 10 miles of the start of the Appalachian Trail, high in the mountains.   Joni and I both independently decided this was the nicest campground in which we have ever stayed.  The sites were immaculately groomed, private and surrounded by tall oaks and maples.  Bathrooms were spotless too.  So, we’ve now stayed in two different state campgrounds in Georgia, and both were excellent.  Georgia gets an award.

Fort Mountain State Campground

Looking west from Fort Mountain

On Friday, we had a short drive into Chattanooga for breakfast.  What a beautiful city!  Definitely worth a return visit for multiple days.  We visited two different parts of the city, both of which have been beautiful restored to very funky city elegance.  The food was excellent at our breakfast location, but more importantly we thoroughly enjoyed the company of two women who shared their table with us.  They were first cousins, who have breakfast together every Friday at this place.  One was a retired lawyer and the other a retired teacher.  Eavesdropping on their conversation while waiting for a table, it was very evident that they were not fans of Donald Trump, so when they asked us to join them we quickly said, “yes”.  Our conversation covered many topics; we continually inquired about different aspects of Southern culture. 

After breakfast we drove to a different part of the city, near the Hunter Museum which overlooked the Tennessee River.  The buildings in this area were equally beautiful and very well maintained.  Artwork was omnipresent!  Joni’s research guided us to a lovely bakery where we picked up some sandwiches for lunch.

 The above building is a bakery!

 Another bakery; this one is where we got our sandwiches for lunch.

We then headed to the Chickamauga National Battlefield visitor center, watched the introductory film that provides a thorough overview of the events leading up to the battle and the strategies that guided the two armies.  This was the second bloodiest battle in the Civil War with over 37,000 combined casualties occurring over the three day struggle which took place in September, 1863, two months after Gettysburg.  We purchased a CD audio tour and spent the next three hours driving from one spot to another. I had always wanted to visit this battlefield after viewing the 30 minute short film “Chickamagua” that was based on one of Ambrose Bierce’s three novellas about the battle.  The film is available on YouTube and I highly recommend it.  When I was a high school English teacher I showed it to one of my classes; it’s very moving.

Most of the fighting during this battle took place in very dense forests where neither army could see the other until they were on top of each other.  Many skirmishes were unplanned as each side continually found itself running into the other.

From Chickamauga we drove up to Lookout Mountain, which overlooks Chattanooga and the Tennessee River, which snakes through the valleys of the area.  The mountain was a strategic vantage spot for observing any troop movements and the site of the battle of Chattanooga which took place in late November of 1863.  The wealthiest homes in this area are located on this mountain…everyone loves a home with a view!

Leaving Chattanooga around 5 pm we had a two hour drive to our campground which is about 30 miles east of Nashville.  Before reaching the campground, we dined in Murfreesboro where we had a delicious meal.  Nick stayed in this city when he was working at Arnold Air Force Base in Tullahoma, so we knew there would be some good restaurants.  We were not disappointed.