Lookout Mountain: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park , National Park Service- Lookout Mountain Unit

Styles, Sean; Goetcheus, Cari; Hasty, David

Lookout Mountain is a bullet-shaped, flat-topped, densely-forested elevation towering nearly 2,000 feet over the valley floor near Chattanooga, Tennessee. The mountain has steep sides that slope away from 150 foot limestone palisades which ring the summit. Overlooking the Tennessee River, which skirts its base, Lookout Mountain stretches southwest from the river into Georgia. Across the river from the triangular tip of Lookout Mountain lies Moccasin Bend, a heavily-forested area in the bend of the river. To the west of the mountain is Lookout Valley, a flat vale that is irrigated by a tributary of the Tennessee River called Lookout Creek. On the east side of Lookout Mountain lies the Chattanooga Valley. The Chattanooga Valley is irrigated by Chattanooga Creek, another tributary of the Tennessee River. Nestled in a bend in the river, near its confluence with the creek, lies the city of Chattanooga. Lookout Mountain Battlefield is a 2,689 acre tract on the slopes of Lookout Mountain, representing one of the 17 discontinuous units that comprise the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. It is significant for its association with the Civil War battle of Lookout Mountain known as the Battle Above the Clouds, occurring in November of 1863. Surviving remnants of the battle era include earthworks, rock outcroppings, vegetation, and structures at the Cravens House. The landscape is also significant for efforts made by the Park Commission to commemorate these battle-era sites through the design and development of the country’s first national military park in 1890. Today, monuments, markers, and tablets indicate the location of many of the events, natural features, and constructed features which influenced the course of the battle. Lookout Mountain Battlefield retains the elements of the commemorative landscape that are common across the park, serving as a tangible link between the events of the Civil War, the creation of the first national military park, and the continuing development which followed in the early years of National Park Service administration. Many cultural landscape features of Lookout Mountain are found within its component landscapes. Remnants of breastworks and rifle pits are found along Rifle Pit Trail leading from the Cravens House. Tablets and markers are found upslope from the Cravens House developed area and near the incline railway remnant. The Iowa Monument is located downslope from Cravens House, adjacent to Old Shingle Road. Sunset Rock Overlook provides views west into Lookout Valley and preserves an observation point used by General Longstreet. Numerous foot trails, many built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, crisscross the reservation connecting Point Park, Cravens House, Ochs Gateway, and the eastern and western slopes of the mountain. The Eagles Nest, a private garden site purchased by NPS, is located near the northern end of the property, although it is not managed as a cultural resource and does not have an association with the Civil War battle or commemorative eras. The vegetation consists primarily of a mixed hardwood canopy and dense understory. Invasive exotics like ailanthus, privet, and mimosa are problematic. A more thorough inventory of cultural landscape remnants at Lookout Mountain is warranted.

Lookout Mountain: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park , National Park Service- Lookout Mountain Unit

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