Found Your Park: The 125th Anniversary of the Establishment of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park

Date: August 10, 2015
Contact: Kim Coons, 423-752-5213x139

Fort Oglethorpe, GA: Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park invites the public to participate in a series of programs at Point Park and at Chickamauga Battlefield on Saturday, August 22, to commemorate the 125^th anniversary of the park's establishment.

On August 19, 1890, President Benjamin Harrison signed legislation creating Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, the first battlefield preserved as a national park. Even twenty-five years after the war ended, many Civil War veterans harbored bitter animosities towards their former enemies and controversies lingered about the cause and meaning of the war. Despite their differences, these veterans saw a common good in creating a park and came together in a spirit of reconciliation to found the park 125 years ago.

At Point Park, on Lookout Mountain, living historians portraying Civil War veterans will share the challenges and successes of reconciliation in the late 19^th Century and how veterans led the movement to create the country's first national military park. Programs will be at 10:30 am, 11:30 am, 1:30 pm, 2:30 pm, and 3:30 pm and will last approximately 30 minutes. Admission to Point Park is $5 per adult ages 16 and older;children 15 and younger enter free.

At Chickamauga Battlefield, join a park ranger at 2 pm for a 2-hour car caravan tour of the battlefield. This program begins at Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center. Between the founding of the park and 1920, hundreds of monuments cropped up all over the former battlefield. Why and how did this change come to be? In the spirit of the National Park Service's "Find Your Park" campaign, come explore how the veterans found their park and in the process, discover what it means to you to find your park at Chickamauga Battlefield. Visitors are encouraged to wear weather-appropriate clothing and bring along a bottle of water. There are no admission fees for programs at Chickamauga Battlefield.

For more information about upcoming programs at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, please contact the Lookout Mountain Visitor Center at [phone] or the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center at [phone].