The History of Brown’s Tavern and Ferry

Cherokee leader John Brown hired Caspar Vaught to build Brown’s Ferry Tavern in 1803 and, completed in 1804 and is the oldest structure in Hamilton County on its original foundation. It was the first of fewer than 100 sites in Hamilton County presently listed on the NRHL, is on the National Register of Historic Places, and on the Trail of Tears Route. A 50-foot wide, 2-story dogtrot log house with two stone chimneys, detached kitchen, various outbuildings, and an orchard with apple, cherry, peach and pear trees, the Tavern would become a witness structure to some of the most important periods in U.S. history. 

Chief Dragging Canoe, the Chickamauga war chief, established 11 Chickamauga towns in the Chattanooga area after the 1776 destruction of Cherokee towns. Though the Chickamauga towns resisted efforts to establish peace, European American settlement prevailed with Brown’s Ferry and Tavern as the logistical linchpin of travel. 

In 1820 John Brown was granted a 640-acre reservation encompassing much of Moccasin Bend. Records indicated that John Brown sold the land to William and Ephraim Hixson in 1830 and were living in Georgia until the Cherokee census shows them moving back to 79-acres in Lookout Valley, Tennessee in 1835.

In December 1836 Major John P. Delaney, an officer assigned to facilitate the Cherokee Removal, intervened to evict Michael P. Light from a cabin owned by Brown and records indicate that in June 1838, the Browns were still living in their house on Brown's Ferry Road when the Whiteley detachment of emigrating Cherokees camped near the ferry after departing Ross's Landing by water. Later that year, the Drane and Bell detachments of Cherokees crossed the Tennessee River at Brown's Ferry on the Trail of Tears.

The 1839 Ocoee District land records show that Brown remained in Hamilton County, continuing his land speculation activities. A claim filed by Elizabeth Brown in 1846 contains a deposition by Benjamin B. Cannon, Circuit Court clerk of Hamilton County and a Trail of Tears detachment leader, stating that John Brown made arrangements to move west but didn’t because he wanted to become a U.S. citizen and was engaged in lawsuits, including one against the Hixsons that made its way to the Tennessee Supreme Court. Brown had applied for citizenship as early as 1835, but it was never granted.

After its defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863, the Union Army of the Cumberland was trapped and besieged in Chattanooga, dependent on a single, fragile supply line. During the Fall of 1863, Lookout Valley was the key to victory. If the Union could capture Lookout Valley from the Confederates and hold it to create a new supply line into Chattanooga, the Confederates would be forced to evacuate the city. While there is no evidence that the Tavern was used as a headquarters by any of the Union generals stationed in the valley, it is likely that it was used as a supply base. 

This map from the Official Records shows the Tavern marked with an X, indicating that Hooker’s headquarters was across Brown’s Ferry Road where the new storage area is located, supporting wagons coming from Kelly’s Ferry to drop supplies. The accompanying photo indicates Joe Hooker and his staff at their winter headquarters, likely located where Lookout Valley Elementary School now stands. 

This historic structure served as an important witness to the October 27 Battle of Brown’s Ferry, which opened the vital “Cracker Line” that supplied food for the U.S. Army forces during the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. In a bold plan to open a more direct supply line, Union troops used bridge pontoon boats to float down the right side of the Tennessee River, past the Confederate guards at the base of Lookout Mountain, and taking out at Brown's Ferry on the far west bank. After establishing a bridgehead, Federal troops drove back counter attacking Confederate forces in fierce, but brief combat. The “Cracker Line” facilitated the men, food and supplies necessary for November’s Federal assaults on Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. With their supply line reopened, Union forces reclaimed lost territory in Chattanooga and eventually forged further south into Georgia. 

Mrs. Joan Franks owned the Tavern for a number of years and Rock City’s Bill Chapin, a prominent business and civic leader, purchased the site after her passing to prevent development. In 2020 he transferred it to the American Battlefield Trust, beginning the process to protect the tavern land and the ferry landing from future development. The property now has a permanent conservation easement with the State of Tennessee and has been transferred to National Park Partners, the friends group supporting the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park and Moccasin Bend.  

“While outside the boundary of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, we knew the property was incredibly significant to the interpretation of the Campaign for Chattanooga and to the Indigenous history of our area,” says executive director Tricia Mims. “Our Board of Directors deliberated long and hard about taking this on, but ultimately, the alternative of not having the property preserved forever was inconceivable. We knew we had to step up to ensure this incredible piece of American history would not slip away.” NPP has secured an estimate for historic restoration of the Tavern and is actively fundraising for that effort and is developing a set of use policies for events and activities at this historic site. “The American Battlefield Trust is dedicated to the protection of hallowed ground,” said organization President James Lighthizer. “But protecting properties like this one, whose significance stretches across multiple eras and narratives, is particularly sweet.” 

You can join the movement to protect, preserve, and interpret the history of this witness structure by becoming a Tavern Keeper with National Park Partners. Visit www.nppcha.org for more information.