Celebrating Women Who Made Their Mark on Chattanooga's History
by Jennifer Crutchfield, National Park Partners
Chattanooga’s natural beauty has enthralled Americans since the earliest days of the new nation but while its parks inspire us to appreciate the nature, they can also teach us about the people. As we recognize Women’s History month, we introduce you to a few of the city’s trailblazing women and the parks connected to their stories.
Emma Alcock and her husband, fellow artist James Cameron, had just returned from their honeymoon in Italy when they met Chattanooga entrepreneur James Whiteside who persuaded the couple to come south and paint. They took Whiteside up on his offer and fell in love with the landscapes of the Southern city. In 1859 James painted the iconic portrait of the Whiteside family sitting on the terrace of their Lookout Mountain home near today’s Point Park, a copy of which today hangs in the Hunter Museum of American Art. Whiteside gave the couple Cameron Hill in payment for what is now known as the earliest image of Moccasin Bend.
Emma Alcock and James Cameron, painted by James Whiteside (image courtesy of the Hunter Museum)
When the Civil War broke out, the Camerons fled Chattanoooga for California. After the war Emma returned and became infuriated at the sight of a denuded Cameron Hill, the bald victim of soldiers from both sides of the war cutting the trees for building materials and heating. Emma stood her ground, reestablished her claim to Cameron Hill and gained a healthy award from the Federal Government of $30,000 in reparations for the timber taken from her hill.
An important sight for signaling, Cameron Hill was a part of what made Chattanooga such a strategic asset coveted by both Presidents. Today, visitors can enjoy Boynton Park, named for Congressional Medal of Honor recipient General V. Boynton, who was quoted as saying “Aside from its views of historic ground, the wide panorama seen from this new park is worth long travel to look upon.”
Mrs. Harriet Whiteside (image courtesy of the Chattanooga Public Library)
Harriet Whiteside was born in 1824 in North Carolina and was 19 when she arrived in Chattanooga to teach music to one of the five children of Colonel James Whiteside, a widower and one of the young city’s leading businessmen. A woman of strong intellectual interests, she ably supported her husband in his ventures, had nine children and returned after the Civil War to become a force to be reckoned with.
When he died in 1861, she inherited Whiteside’s Lookout Mountain land holdings, railroad stock, and mines. She started her own battle, one over turnpikes and the fees she charged people for the iconic view on her mountaintop land. Her shotgun-wielding employees ensured that fees were collected, and the conflict inspired publisher Adolph Ochs to preserve land that would become the Point Park Battlefield Park. Some called her one of the most successful and wealthiest women in Tennessee and “having the highest degree of culture, education, polish, refinement while never forgetting she was lady.”
Today Point Park is a unit of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park and is the site of the Civil War battle referred to as “The Battle Above the Clouds.” The visitor center houses a 33’ x 13’ mural painted by James Walker, an eyewitness to the battle and interpretive material and the Park hosts monuments, iconic views and interpretive plaques that help connect today’s visitors to scenes from the past. Entrance to the Point Park Visitors Center is free, while admission to Point Park is $10 for guests over 16 and free for children, seniors, and guests with NPS passes (open 8:30 am to sunset daily).