Visitors explore unusual rock formations and marvel at a 145-foot waterfall more than a thousand feet beneath the surface at Ruby Falls. Courtesy Ruby Falls
By Herb Sparrow
Chattanooga has come a long way in the past 35 years since the Environmental Protection Agency called it the country’s dirtiest city. Gone are the days when the downtown air was so smog-filled that cars ran with their headlights on at noon.
An aggressive effort in the 1980s and 1990s that saw nearly $1 billion spent on riverfront revitalization and downtown development made the southeastern Tennessee city on the Tennessee River a poster child for civic improvement, with U.S. News & World Report including it among six “smart cities” in a June 1998 article.
But Chattanooga hasn’t rested on its laurels. Another aggressive revitalization effort has pumped another $120 million of developments into the waterfront area, and the city now proudly bills itself as “Chattanewga.’
Completed two years ago, the 21st Century Waterfront Project included a $30 million expansion of the Tennessee Aquarium, a $19.5 million expansion of the Hunter Museum of American Art, and a $3 million redesign and a new rooftop exhibit at the Creative Discovery Museum.
The project also featured a new wetlands park, a glass-bottom pedestrian bridge that connects the Bluff View Art District with downtown, an extended river walk, a new pier and mooring facilities, restaurants, more green space and $1.2 million in public art.
“We are looking at it as phase two of a 20-year project,” said Shelda Rees, director of tourism for the Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Saltwater addition The Tennessee Aquarium, which opened in 1992 as the world’s largest freshwater aquarium, added a major saltwater component with its new Ocean Journey building.
Beneath a four-story glass pyramid roof that is a landmark feature of the new Chattanooga skyline, the aquarium’s 15-year-old River Journey traces the course of the Tennessee River from its source in the Appalachian Mountains to where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico.
A waterfall, moss-covered trees, three living forests, and the sounds of dripping water and local music accompany a trip from the mountains to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and through Delta country to the Gulf. Along the way visitors see river otters, snakes, longnose gar, huge blue catfish, alligators and snapping turtles.
Ocean Journey picks up the story to provide a look at ocean life with gliding stingrays, barracudas and sand-tiger and sandbar sharks.
The Undersea Cavern has panoramic windows that give the sensation of being in an underwater cave. “Image gazing into a coral reef teeming with 10-foot-long sharks, fierce barracuda and a mosaic of colorful reef fish,” said Jackson Andrews, the aquarium’s director of husbandry and operations.
Ocean Journey also includes a shark and ray touch pool, hundreds of free-flying butterflies, and a gallery with jellyfish and a giant octopus.
The aquarium also is not standing still. Its newest exhibit, Penguins’ Rock, opened in early May with 20 gentoo and macaroni penguins. The penguins, from the sub-Antarctic islands surrounding the South Pole, frolic in an 18,000-gallon pool of 45-degree water. A touch tank lets visitors feel how cold the water is.
Art with a view The Hunter Museum of American Art, which originally began in a 1905 mansion on an 80-foot bluff above the Tennessee River, opened its modernistic new wing in April 2005 after being closed for a year for the construction and the reinstallation of its collection.
The new zinc and glass building, which includes a new entry lobby for the museum, joins a 1970s addition to give the museum three distinct structures.
“We have two modern buildings flanking either side of a 1905 mansion,” said Katrina Craven, public relations and marketing director for the museum. “There are three very distinct architectural styles. We have this mansion, this 1970s building of low concrete and then our contemporary building. All three buildings flow together.”
In addition to its distinctive buildings and collection of American art — one of the largest such collections in the Southeast — the museum offers great panoramic views of the river and downtown.
Craven said the reinstallation that was necessitated by the expansion, gave the museum an opportunity to add more depth and meaning to its displays.
“For example, the second floor of the mansion is light-filled with great views,” she said. “It is filled with landscapes. The idea is to look at the American landscape the way it was and then look out the window and see it as it is.”
The Hunter and the other museums in the River View Arts District are better connected with downtown by way of the new Holmberg Pedestrian Bridge, whose transparent deck is lit at night.
Public art Ross’s Landing Park and Plaza, a part of the original waterfront redevelopment 15 years ago, has also been enhanced. Surrounding the Tennessee Aquarium and the Creative Discovery Museum, the park has a natural amphitheater, additional public art and a new 160-foot pier, dominated by seven 40-foot-tall light features, that extends into the river.
One of the most dramatic additions to the river area is the Trail of Tears Memorial, which features seven doors in a copper wall that represent the seven tribes of Cherokee. The wall is topped with 10-foot-high steel structures that represent the Cherokee playing stickball.
Water flowing down the doors symbolizes the Cherokee’s tears at their forced removal to the West in the 1830s. The water flows into a trough and descends to the Tennessee River, where four large water cannons shoot it back into the river to signify the return of the Cherokee to the area.
“This is so much more than a memorial,” said Bill Glass, the lead artist for the team of Cherokee artists who designed the memorial. “It is a physical celebration of our Cherokee culture.”
Old standards Chattanooga had been attracting visitors for years before its renaissance with attractions such as the Incline Railway, Ruby Falls and Rock City. And the attractions are still top draws.
Rock City, made famous by the innovative marketing campaign that painted “See Rock City” on numerous barn roofs throughout the South and Midwest, is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.
“Rock City is a piece of Americana,” said Bill Chapin, president of its parent company and a third-generation descendant of founders Garnet and Frieda Carter.
To prepare for its Founders Day celebration in mid-May, Rock City has added a new entry plaza, increased regional food offerings and built a pavilion for large-group gatherings as part of a million-dollar expansion plan.
Located six miles from downtown on Lookout Mountain, Rock City is famous for its unusual massive rock formations, 100-foot waterfall, more than 400 types of native plants and 200-foot swinging bridge that leads to Lover’s Leap, from which you can see seven states.
Another great vantage in downtown is from Point Park, 2,200 feet above the city and reached by the famous Incline Railway, whose 72.7 percent grade near the top makes it the world’s steepest passenger railway.
The 112-year-old incline recently reopened following a major redo that included new cables and tracks. On a clear day, you can see the Smoky Mountains, more than 100 miles away, from the incline’s Lookout Mountain Station.
At the other extreme of geography, Ruby Falls, more than 1,100 feet beneath the surface of Lookout Mountain, features a 145-foot waterfall with no known source.
Ruby Falls, which marked its 75th anniversary two years ago, also has white onyx stalagmites and unusual rock formations.
New nighttime lantern tours on weekends provide a different look at the cave’s formation.
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