Creating a Neighborhood Link: Glass Street to Sherman Reservation

Date: September 9, 2016
Contact: Kim Coons, 423-752-5213x139

Fort Oglethorpe, GA:Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park invites the public to participate in a National Park Service centennial event located in the Sherman Reservation as part of Glass Street LIVE, a community-wide block party hosted by neighborhood partner, Glass House Collective, held Saturday, September 24, from 11 am to 4 pm.

Beginning at 11 am, the festivities will include a street party (including music, art exhibits, and food), a giant puppet show with larger-than-life puppets of Union General William T. Sherman and Confederate General Patrick Cleburne designed and built by artist Wayne White, and a parade up Glass Street to North Chamberlain Avenue.

At 12:30 pm, at the entrance to Sherman Reservation on Missionary Ridge, the National Park Service, along with community partners, will officially open the new trail connection from the

73^rd Pennsylvania Reservation on Glass Street to the Sherman Reservation on Lightfoot Mill Road. Parking will not be available at Sherman Reservation. Participants should park at the Community of Christ Church, 2508 Glass Street, Chattanooga, TN, then follow the "special event" signs to the National Park Service pop-up tent, and board the CARTA shuttle to Sherman Reservation or walk to Sherman Reservation using Glass Street and the new trail. Please begin boarding for this event as early as 12 pm.

Immediately following the trail opening, a National Park Service ranger will lead a 30-minute hiking tour into the Sherman Reservation, focusing on the struggle for Missionary Ridge and the continued struggle for freedom in Chattanooga and the nation during the Civil War. Additional ranger-led tours, lasting approximately 45-minutes, will occur at 2 pm and 3 pm, both of which begin at the

73^rd Pennsylvania Reservation on Glass Street.Participants can take the shuttle or walk to the reservation.Those takingthe shuttle should board at least 15 minutes before the start of the tour. Tour participants will not only learn about the history of the area during the Civil War, but they will mingle with living historians dressed as Union soldiers, listen to a special piece by a percussion band, have a chance to talk to Park Historian Jim Ogden about the historic Glass Street neighborhood, participate in hands-on kids' activities, see the larger than life Sherman and Cleburne puppets, and talk to rangers and community leaders about the new trail connection. All this will take place within the Sherman Reservation. However, if visitors do not wish to take the hiking tour, they may remain on the shuttle and be taken directly into the reservation to participate in these other activities. All National Park Service related activities, including shuttle transportation, are FREE. Shuttles will run on a continuous loop from Glass Street to the Sherman Reservation until 4:30 pm.

Glass Street LIVE, the hiking tours into the Sherman Reservation, and all the other amenities for this special event would not be possible without the support of the Chattanooga Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA), the Sierra Club, the Trust for Public Land, the Southeast Conservation Corps, Glass House Collective, the Friends of the Park, the National Park Foundation, and Coca-Cola.

We hope you will consider joining us for this great community event and the finale of our centennial programs for 2016.

For more information about programs at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, contact the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center at 706-866-9241, the Lookout Mountain Battlefield Visitor Center at 423-821-7786.