Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park is seeking volunteers for American Battlefield Trust Park Day.
Sign-up will begin at 9 am on Saturday, April 6, at the intersection of Woodland View Circle and Hooker Road in Chattanooga. The service project should end around 1 pm. This year, the service project isn’t on park property, but rather in the city of Chattanooga. However, it does have a park connection. We will be working with the city to clear vegetation and debris from one of the original park bridges associated with an approach road that was built around the time of the park’s establishment. The service project area is the route taken by Union General Joseph Hooker’s forces as they marched from Lookout Mountain, into Chattanooga Valley, and toward Missionary Ridge, where Confederates were positioned. Today, the location is off Hooker Road.
The enabling legislation, creating the park in 1890, states: “For the purpose of preserving and suitably marking for historical and professional military study, the fields of some of the most remarkable maneuvers and most brilliant fighting in the War of the Rebellion, those portions of highways in the States of Georgia and Tennessee in the vicinity of the battlefields of Chickamauga and Chattanooga…shall be approaches to and parts of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, and each and all of such roads shall remain open as free and public highways…”
Volunteers are asked to wear clothing appropriate for the weather and that they don’t mind getting a little dirty. All tools, including gloves, will be provided, but volunteers are welcome to bring their own gloves if desired. Questions about Park Day can be directed to the park’s volunteer coordinator, Will Wilson, at will_wilson@nps.gov or 706-866-9241 ext. 137.
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, or visit the park website at www.nps.gov/chch