Communications 150 Years Ago and Now on Display at Point Park

Date: July 2, 2013
Contact: Kim Coons, 423-752-5213 x139

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park and the Chattanooga Amateur Radio Club invites the public to attend a special communications event on Saturday, July 13 and Sunday, July 14 at Point Park, located on historic Lookout Mountain. Living historians will conduct Civil War Signaling programs on Saturday at 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., and 3:30 p.m. and on Sunday at 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., and 2:30 p.m. Admission to Point Park is $3.00 per adult age 16 and over; 15 years and under, Senior, Access, and Annual Pass holders are free. 

Across the street from Point Park members of the Chattanooga Amateur Radio Club (CARC) will provide amateur radio hobby members worldwide the opportunity to communicate with Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park during this special weekend. In addition, the CARC will demonstrate telegraphic operations (Civil War). While the mountains and ridges surrounding the city offered Signaling as an excellent means of short-range communication, the telegraph served as the fastest long-range communication from Chattanooga. The telegraph offered General Ulysses S. Grant in Chattanooga and the Lincoln administration in Washington, D.C. the capability to send and receive telegraphic messages in a matter of a few hours.