CHATTANOOGA
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A local's guide to Chattanooga

Chattanooga sits where the Tennessee River bends around downtown, with Lookout Mountain rising right at the edge of the city. People here grow up knowing the river by heart, whether that means fishing off the Riverwalk, paddling near Ross's Landing, or just watching the sunset from Coolidge Park. You can be downtown at a riverfront restaurant and twenty minutes later be standing on a bluff looking down at the whole valley.

It's a city that still feels connected to its rail and river past. The Walnut Street Bridge, built in 1890, carries foot traffic instead of trains now, and the old Chattanooga Choo Choo station is a gathering spot instead of a depot. Locals move easily between neighborhoods like North Shore, Southside, and St. Elmo, each with its own pace, but everyone ends up back on the Riverwalk eventually.

Chattanoogans are proud of the outdoors right outside their door and the food scene that keeps growing downtown. We put some of that pride on a t-shirt.

Things to do in Chattanooga

Get outside

Chattanooga neighborhoods

Events through the year

Where locals eat

A little Chattanooga history

Native Americans settled the area more than eight thousand years ago, and by around A.D. 1300 it was a center of Mississippian culture. The name most likely comes from a Creek phrase, Chado-na-ugsa, meaning "rock coming to a point," a description of Lookout Mountain jutting toward the river. Cherokee people later controlled the land. In 1815 Cherokee chief John Ross started a trading post, warehouse, and ferry known as Ross's Landing.

Permanent white settlers arrived in the early 1830s and built up Ross's Landing as a trading post on the Tennessee River. In 1838, during the Indian Removal Act, more than 16,000 Cherokees began the Trail of Tears from this area, and that same year the town took the name Chattanooga. The city incorporated on December 20, 1839, starting with just fifty-three families.

Railroads arrived in 1850 and turned Chattanooga into a vital commercial link between the Deep South and the rest of the country. The city became a major hub during the Civil War because of its converging rail lines, and afterward grew into one of the Southeast's largest heavy industrial centers. The Glenn Miller Orchestra later made the city famous nationwide with the song Chattanooga Choo Choo, which won the first gold record in music industry history.

Chattanooga FAQ

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · visitchattanooga.com · chattanooga.gov · trgt.org · livability.com · chattanoogajournal.com · cityscopemag.com · wdef.com · chattanooga.com · local3news.com · tn.gov · ridetheincline.com