Fall 2024 Florida trip

[DonnaR57]

Day 9 - CHICKAMAUGA NATIONAL MILITARY PARK

Despite the look of a cloudy day, we started out at a decent hour. First stop, though, was at the neighboring Walmart store for a few things. which included Krispy Kreme donuts, and then at McDonald's for coffee. We went down to Chickamauga using a combination of a map they'd sent us, and our GyPSy.

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We ate our donuts in front of this impressive looking visitor center, before going into the building for further information, movie, etc.

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Like many (but not all) battlefields, you follow the driving tour signs, making your stops in designated areas where there is both an interpretive sign and description on the NMP brochure. One thing to be noted about Chickamauga is that the monuments here are very intricately carved. Like other parks, though, there are so many that you couldn't possibly see them all unless you took a week and did a lot of hiking. We noted a lot of people doing just that - hiking or cycling in specific areas. Well, it was a Sunday, so we weren't too surprised.

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Along the 8-stop tour, there were two old cabins. Though they won't let you go into them, the "doors" were full-length metal gates that would allow you to peer in, either with your eyes/nose, phone camera, camera lens, or all 3. They were bare, not much in them except a fireplace and maybe some stairs into the loft area.

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Many of these signs, red for Confederate and blue for Union, were available to be read. They are made of cast iron, we found out, and many have been in place since 1890's when Chattanooga-Chickamauga became the first National Military Park (NMP). This sign, in particular, caught my attention since reading earlier that Longstreet was a cousin of Julia Dent Grant (Ulysses S Grant's wife). Note that Longstreet was a Rebel.

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A look into one of those cabins:

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Talk about an intricately carved monument!

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This is Wilson's Tower, one of those that has steps inside to the top with a view. It's a good cardio workout -- yes, we went up it.

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View from the top:

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The second cabin on the tour, Snodgrass Cabin on Snodgrass Hill, was about the final stop on the tour.

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We spent what was left of the day catching up on the laundry and other little chores that needed doing, before going to dinner. The restaurant we chose was on the other side of Chattanooga, we found out, meaning we had to traverse that Interchange-Under-Construction-I-24 & I-75. We ran into the problem that we've seen before - restaurants that are closed on Sundays and/or Mondays - so we didn't get our choice of places. Most of the ones recommended to us were closed both days we were there. So we ate at chains that we did not have nearby at home. (That is our rule of thumb for chains, eat at the ones that we don't have close to us. We make exception for the occasional breakfast at McDonald's, though we prefer Cracker Barrel or Huddle House for breakfasts.).