Chickamauga and Chattanooga Administrative History

CHAPTER III:
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ADMINISTRATION (continued)

C. Land Acquisition and Boundaries

As in all national parks, matters of land acquisition and disposition have been of prime importance at Chickamauga and Chattanooga. When the National Park Service assumed administration of the park in 1933 the land area totaled some 5,533 acres. Considerable changes have occurred in the intervening years; today the park area encompasses 8,095.41 acres, of which 16.79 are non-Federal land.

The 1930s proved to be an era of expansion for many national parks, including Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. The gift in 1935 of nearly 3,000 acres embracing Chattanooga-Lookout Mountain Park through the efforts of Adolph and Milton Ochs comprised an addition totaling more than half the national military park's then existing acreage. [62] Further donations by the town of Lookout Mountain (Sunset Park and Spring Creek Park) and various individuals between 1936 and 1940 added several more acres. And in a 1939 offer of a donation of five acres by the town of Signal Mountain subsequently helped in the improvement of the park unit and installation of geological exhibits there. Acceptance of this small tract, approved by Congress in 1942, was nonetheless delayed by legal complications until 1948. The Government reciprocated for these parcels with small conveyances to Catoosa and Dade Counties, Georgia, which reduced overall park acreage. [63]

In 1938 a boundary survey was projected for the park. It was during this period that park administrators conceived a plan to extend the east boundary of Chickamauga Battlefield to Chickamauga Creek. The lands there were of historical importance and the plan was tentatively approved pending passage of requisite legislation. [64] This came in 1940 with Georgia Congressman Malcolm C. Tarver introducing a bill for an appropriation of $125,000 to implement the acquisition by purchase or condemnation proceedings. But President Franklin D. Roosevelt vetoed the measure, citing his belief that the acquisition should be made from donations of property and money rather than from public funds. [65]

Several small donations of property were made to the park in the early 1940s, including the Ochs Gateway tract on Lookout Mountain. Likewise, more property deemed inconsequential to the park's interest was given over to Tennessee and Georgia. In 1943 some 310 acres were conveyed to Dade County, Georgia, for use in a state park. [66] Boundary studies were conducted in 1945 on the west slope of Lookout Mountain. Beginning in 1946 a plan was drawn for alleviating the parking congestion at Point Park by Government purchase of property lying south of the unit. [67] Also during the 1940s attempts were made to enlarge the acreage of the Signal Mountain tract to permit development of trails and parking facilities. Legislation passed Congress in 1942 authorizing acceptance of a donation of land from the Town of Signal Mountain. [68] The Signal Mountain Garden Club spearheaded the project, but acquisition by the Government was delayed by litigation until 1948, when approximately five acres were turned over to the National Park Service. [69] Construction of the parking area and a comfort station was completed in 1956, exhibits were installed in 1964, and the Signal Point unit was formally dedicated two years later. [70]

A most significant land matter arose concurrently with these improvements. This involved the acquisition of land from Fort Oglethorpe, designated as surplus property by the Army. Regional personnel recommended acquiring all the land on the reservation, particularly all that up to the north side of the parade ground. Brick residences on the tract might be utilized for park employee housing. The attainment of the entire fort tract was justified on the basis of its historical associations with Chickamauga Battlefield. [71] Acquisition was viewed as a priority right to protect the park against encroachment by private enterprise. Moreover, the land had originally belonged to the park before the fort was established. In 1947, however, the War Assets Administration proposed giving the National Park Service only a strip of land north of the park along Reed's Bridge Road, a total of about 100 acres. Technically, the land lay "generally north of the present south line of Fort Oglethorpe and westward from the southeast corner thereof." Included were three buildings containing five sets of quarters. A bill for this purpose passed Congress, was signed by President Harry S Truman, and became effective October 26, 1948. The remaining fort property was sold for home sites. [72]

Another local tract gaining attention by Park Service personnel at this time was the Moccasin Bend area of the Tennessee River, west of Chattanooga and directly below Point Park. A group of Chattanooga citizens hoped to acquire Moccasin Bend for a municipal park, a project Superintendent Dunn supported because it would insure preservation of "the aesthetic view from our park and preclude factory occupation of the area." [73] Efforts to acquire the property at Moccasin Bend began in 1943 and lasted into the 1950s. By 1949 a plan had evolved to add the area to Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park with the financial aid of the State of Tennessee, Hamilton County, Chattanooga, and private donations. According to National Park Service Director Newton B. Drury, "city and county would each contribute $50,000, the State $100,000, and private donors the balance of the approximate $250,000 cost." [74] In 1950 legislation was enacted in Congress authorizing the addition to park lands of 400 acres and was approved by the President. [75] Next year the Tennessee legislature passed an act to acquire the Moccasin Bend area for a national park and funds for the purpose were so budgeted. Preparations were made by the City of Chattanooga to condemn lands beyond city limits for park purposes. [76] But Moccasin Bend never was acquired; the administration that entered office in Tennessee in 1953 opposed the movement, blocked payment of the State's funds, and the project shortly succumbed a victim of Tennessee politics. [77]

Major land transactions involving the park declined following the Moccasin Bend episode. During the early 1980s further attempts to obtain land to build a visitor center and a parking lot at Point Park met with strong opposition from Lookout Mountain residents. In conjunction with a boundary realignment in 1965 plans were made for eventual disposal of 160 acres of nonhistorical land lying northeast of Chickamauga Battlefield. Park officials still hoped to extend the south boundary of the park to Chickamauga Creek and favored an exchange of properties in the affected areas. [78] Over the next two years bills seeking this end were introduced in Congress by Representative John W. Davis of Georgia. [79] In 1969, the National Park Service purchased three tracts south of the park that completed park acreage to Chickamauga Creek. [80] Soon after Congress passed, and the President approved, a measure authorizing disposal of the unwanted northeast parcel to Catoosa County, Georgia, for use in building a high school. [81] This transaction was completed with conveyance of 160 acres to the Catoosa County Board of Public Education in 1971 and 1972. [82]

More recent developments regarding land matters include the successful campaign of a Lookout Mountain civic group called Help Our National Park to prevent commercial development on two adjacent Lookout Mountain parcels. In 1972 the group was instrumental in arranging with the Nature Conservancy the donation of the threatened acreage to Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. [83] During 1973, 1974, and 1975 a Bureau of Land Management Survey of park holdings on Lookout Mountain was completed and in the following year about twenty-five boundary markers were placed. This important survey was conducted to accurately determine the boundaries of the unit's 2,800 acres. In 1976 some small lots were turned over to local property owners who had challenged Government claims to them. Also, certain roads leading out of the park were closed to discourage private development on adjoining lands. [84] The most recent major land developments concerned the 1977 donation by the town of Lookout Mountain of nearly three acres encompassing Sunset Rock, and the acquisition, through the privately-endowed National Parks Foundation, of the property fronting on Point Park, including a shop, a residence, and a parking area, all to be used for visitor orientation purposes. Cost of the 8-acre Point Park tract was $265,000. [85] Another acre of property was authorized for addition to Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park in 1980. [86]