This is the 4th and 5th days of our ten week cross country fall adventure in 2021! Here is a link to our previous stop in Bryson City ,NC.
Cherohala Skyway
We first make our way from Bryson City to the town of Robbinsville where we enter the Cherohala Skyway. Here are some interesting facts about this road
- It is listed as one of the top ten motorcycle routes by the Discovery Channel
- It is the most expensive highway in NC with a price tag of $100,000,000
- It is a total of 41 miles that winds up and over 5,400 foot mountains for 18 miles in North Carolina and descends another 23 miles into Tennessee, ending in Tellico Plains
- Its name is a combination of the two national forests that it runs through: Cherokee National Forest and Nantahala National Forests – thus the name “Chero…hala”
This drive features views ridge after ridge ,with hiking and numerous overlooks and picnic tables. We have a picnic lunch and just enjoy the peace and solitude of the area. Once we exit the skyway, we have another 50 miles of scenic driving on our way to Chattanooga.
The Bluff View Inn
The heavens opened up with rain as we were about 10 miles away from our B&B. Weather like that makes it a little more challenging to navigate a strange city to find your quaint B&B located in the Bluff View Art District. We manage to get a parking space directly in front of the B&B so we dash inside to check-in. This B&B is comprised of three different historic homes: The Maclelland, The T.C. Thomas and the Martin. We have the J. Avery Bryan room in the Maclelland House (built in 1889) and learn we are the only guests in this house for the first night. We have a corner room on the second floor that has truly amazing views of the Tennessee River, the Walnut Street Bridge and the historic downtown from both corners.
Dinner at Big River Grille & Brewery – and our evening in downtown
The Bluff View Inn is just steps away from numerous restaurants, shops, art galleries, coffee shops – almost all within .5 mile walk. The rain has stopped and we head down the hill and can see the AT&T Ballpark field in the distance – a minor league team for the Cincinnati Reds, the Chattanooga Lookouts. We walk past the Hunter Museum of American Art, past the Tennessee Aquarium and some beautiful homes. We already regret that we are only staying 2 nights in this area and put it on our list for a longer stop the next time we had south.
We find 2 seats at the bar at The Big River Grille & Brewery, and our bartender Jed gets us some small samples of several of their craft beers. We both choose their Iron Horse Stout – a beer with undertones of chocolate and coffee. I order the Brewhouse Chicken and Harrison gets the Fish Tacos. We both agree it is one of the better meals we’ve had.
We decide to take an evening stroll along the River Walk. It’s a true treasure with art and clever waterfalls along the route. We see a sign for the Southern Belle off in the distance. We had considered a Sunset Cruise on this old riverboat and we know it is too late for tonight, but we decide to walk down to check it out. This big 3 story ship in intriguing because we see lighted beer signs up on the top floor. As luck would have it, this guy comes by and says ‘come on up, my name is Mark and I’m the bartender here” – and we look at each other and just follow him into the elevator and eventually into this gigantic bar with couches, TVs, ping pong, cornhole and several seats outdoors with sweeping views of the river. We grab a few, then head back to the B&B for the evening.
Our Morning before our Day’s Adventure
Our bed and breakfast has an arrangement with the local coffee shop where we can get our free breakfast. We walk down a block to get to Rembrandt’s Coffeehouse where we order our hearty breakfast sandwiches. Next we take a walk down along the sidewalk and through an art garden. We keep the walk fairly short because we have a date to meet up with a friend of Nancy’s from her high school days.
Right on cue, Lori (Hallquist) Haedt arrives at our B&B about 5 minutes after we get back to the room. Nancy and Lori spend the next 1.5 hours bringing each other up to speed on what’s happened in the last 40 years as well as laughing through several memories from those days gone by.
Lookout Mountain
Adventure time! We hop in the Brown Beast and head to Lookout Mountain Battlefields up a windy, steep, narrow road. We bypass touristy Ruby Falls and Rock City and go straight to Point Park, a 10 acre memorial to the “Battle Above The Clouds”. After wrestling with a parking meter app we visit this Civil War Battle Memorial Park.
In 1863, from early October through late November, the Confederate troops camped on Lookout Mountain observing the Union troops below. The Confederates had recently persevered at Chickamauga (our next stop) and were trying to cut off the Union Troops from supplies. But the Union troops managed to open a supply line and on November 24, led by General Joseph Hooker, the Union Army marched up the northern slope and won the battle that became known as the “Battle Above The Clouds”.
Chickamauga Battlefield
As we pull into the Visitor Center, Harrison makes a comment that he doesn’t expect this park to have too many statues and memorials. Five minutes later, we learn there are over 200! We watch a 26 minute re-enactment film, walk through the museum (that includes an impressive rifle collection) and then begin the auto tour. Sure enough, we see monument after monument, each with its own touch on honoring their regiment.
Between September 16 and 18, 1863, the Confederate Army led by General Braxton Bragg narrowly won a significant battle against the Union Army led by General William Rosecrans. The Union was looking to capture Chattanooga, the gateway to the south. Chickamauga is in Georgia, near the GA/TN border and Chickamauga is a Cherokee word meaning “river of death”. The area is heavily wooded such that no officer above brigadier could see all his command at once, and even the brigadiers often could see nobody’s troops but their own. Once gun and cannon fire commenced, it became ever more challenging to see. The first day was a series of small skirmishes, but by the second day, it was all out war. Both sides suffered from mis-communication. The Confederates error delayed their attack by 3 hours. The Union sent some troops to fill a gap (that turned out didn’t exist) actually opening a gaping hole in the Union line. The arrival of Lt. General James Longstreet and his Army of Northern Virginia helped the Confederates to defeat the Union troops. By the time it was over, 35,000 men were killed, wounded, missing, and captured, thus making this the second highest loss of lives during the Civil War, with only Gettysburg suffering more.
As you read above in our Lookout Mountain post – this Confederate victory didn’t last long and they ended up losing the next battle, the Battle Above the Clouds in Chattanooga.
Our Evening in Downtown Chattanooga
We skipped lunch today, so we started our evening at around 4pm. We started with appetizers and dinner at Hair Of The Dog Pub, a little British Pub. The appetizers were a tad unusual – Rueben Eggrolls. We split a Chorizo & Chicken sandwich. We chat with our bartender Mallory and our new friends Bender and “Aye-Id” (the southern two syllable way to pronounce Ed). We discover the pub allows smoking inside, so we cash out and head to The Leaping Leprechaun, a little Irish Pub just two blocks away. We meet our bartender Aaron and also chat with 2 girls at the bar who are there with their Doberman Pincer. Good music, but we decide to head back to the ship where we’d stopped the night before to have a few more beers and watch the sun set.
Our Verdict
We are definitely adding Chattanooga to our “anchor” list. Lots of infrastructure here and things to do that can keep you busy.
Next Up
We are off to the Shiloh Battlefield one of the bloodiest battle grounds of the American civil war and a night at the Concord Inn in New Albany Mississippi.
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