Chattanooga, Tennessee, Part 2 !

Clint and I love learning about history and we always like to learn more about battles/wars so if there are battlefields around we like to go to them. We did a few battlefields in this area, from the Civil War era. We went to the Chickamauga and Chattanooga Battlefield Visitor Centre and listened to a wonderful presentation by one of the Park staff members on how weather affected the Civil War, it was very interesting. We also drove through/past some of the battlefields. There were lots of spots, monuments, memorials on Lookout Mountain as well as the Battles of Chattanooga Visitor Centre. Downtown we went to the Medal of Honour Museum, it was very well done, nice displays and lots of information .

We also went to the Tennessee Valley Railroad and Museum. Their mission is collect, preserve and display artifacts in an authentic setting. If you like trains and train type items, this is a great place to go. They offer a High Tea upstairs at the museum and they did a fabulous job; scones, sandwiches of different types, soup, cheese and crackers and of course, different teas. We really enjoyed it and the tables were set in a room that had different clothing and exhibits from WWII.

After our lunch, we took a train ride which lasted about 20 minutes on an old train, with open windows, which was pretty cool. At the end we had to get off the train as they had to use a huge turntable to turn the train back around so we could head back to the museum where we started.

We also visited the Chattanooga Choo Choo building! Trains came and went through here from 1909 to 1970 and then it shut down. A group of local businessmen, inspired by Glen Miller’s song, Chattanooga Choo Choo song, invested and reopened the building to the public. There are stores, places to eat, a distillery and more. It’s a very cool old building.

So that was Chattanooga, we also went downtown and visited a couple of breweries and restaurants, all in all, a great time. Next stop……..Pigeon Forge!