Ohio Reservation: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, National Park Service

Styles, Sean; Goetcheus, Cari; Hasty, David

The Ohio Reservation, one of the 17 sub-units that comprise the Chickamauga Chattanooga National Military Park, is located on North Crest Road along Missionary Ridge just outside the city limits of Chattanooga, Tennessee. The long, narrow site traverses the crest of Missionary Ridge, marking the position and contributions of the Ohio troops who participated in the Chattanooga Campaign. The 1.7 acre reservation is one of a series of detached sites on Missionary Ridge designed to commemorate the events of the Battles of Chattanooga during the Civil War. The ridge marks the Confederate defensive lines and was the location of some of the most severe clashes between Union and Confederate troops during the Battle of Missionary Ridge, fought in November of 1863. In addition to having historic significance due to its association with the Civil War battle, the Ohio Reservation is also significant for the later commemoration of that event through the establishment of the country’s first national military park. The original site that was purchased to commemorate the Ohio troops at Missionary Ridge, nearby Turchin Reservation, was too small for the planned monument; this prompted the state of Ohio to acquire the property where the Ohio Reservation now stands. The Ohio Monument was built at the site in 1904, along with tablets and a mounted cannon. Additional designs were developed at that time for an ornamental iron fence with drive and walkway gates. Vehicular access is provided by North Crest Road, following the eastern edge of the property. A parking pull-off is provided across the street. Pedestrian access is via a small set of stone steps onto the grass, and there is no formal pedestrian circulation on the site. The high point, site of the Ohio Monument, is located near North Crest Road. The monument is set on a grass terrace which then slopes down towards the road. The northeastern edge of the parcel, along North Crest Road, consists of a low, stone retaining wall abutting a concrete sidewalk. The wall contains the northeastern side of the reservation and turns the eastern corner of the abutting residence. Behind the monument the slope falls away towards the City of Chattanooga. The area from the monument to the road is fairly open with a grass understory, while the slope beyond the monument is wooded with a healthy understory. The western neighbors’ ornamental vegetation and small-scale features, once found inside the western boundary, have been removed in recent years. The wooded area at the rear of the reservation is now partially cleared to allow views along Missionary Ridge. Additional vegetation clearing on the site could expand views of Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain. The area surrounding the site is developed with suburban homes, such that the site is sandwiched between two lots with deeply set-back early 20th-century dwellings. The reservation, aside from growth of vegetation, retains the overall spatial organization established by the Park Commission and continues to be maintained as a commemorative landscape that was developed with reference to the battle-era topography.

Ohio Reservation: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, National Park Service

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