Get out in Chattanooga

• By CHERÉ COEN
• Special to Magazine
• Published: Oct 18, 2009

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There’s so much to report on Chattanooga, it’s hard to know where to start.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Chattanooga Choo Choo, while the Delta Queen docked on the Tennessee River and has recently opened as a boutique hotel.

You can still view several states from above Lookout Mountain, see Rock City and travel up and down the world’s steepest passenger railway. And while Ruby Falls takes visitors 260 feet below the ground to a breath-taking waterfall as it has for the past 70-plus years, the attraction is now powered by solar energy.

Outdoor recreation has always been on the menu, but now Chattanooga offers kayaking and canoeing downtown on the river, whitewater rafting and hang gliding and its Nature Center just opened the innovative “Paddler’s Perch,” with composting toilet and kitchenette where canoeists can spend the night elevated above the creek and peaceful woods.

Even the art scene is booming, thanks to CreateHere, ArtsMove and other cultural development programs. More than $450,000 has been dedicated to 57 local creative endeavors and 25 working artists, many from Louisiana, have received help in relocating to Chattanooga.

It’s all part of a communitywide effort to enhance and grow Chattanooga. And it’s working.

The city’s reformation

When Walter Cronkite reported on the evening news that Chattanooga was the dirtiest city in America, residents took notice. They formed the Vision 2000 project, ready to move Chattanooga from the smokestack industries to tourism, to revitalize the languishing downtown and to clean up the Tennessee River. Change began, albeit slowly.

In 1982, a group of businessmen renovated the old Terminal Station, built in 1909 and made famous by the 1941 Glenn Miller song, “Chattanooga Choo Choo.” Landing the impressive Tennessee Aquarium in 1992 really turned downtown Chattanooga around, said Bob Doak, president of the Chattanooga Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. That same year, the Bluff View Arts District was created, eventually leading to a complete revitalization of the historic neighborhood with its now-tony cafés, restaurants and bed and breakfasts.

The Walnut Street Bridge opened as the world’s longest pedestrian bridge, spanning the Tennessee River to the North Shore, now witnessing healthy development of its own. The Hunter Museum of American Art expanded, new museums opened and a free bus service began from the Terminal to the river, encouraging visitors to park their cars and enjoy Chattanooga without the hassle of parking.

Within the last few years, many historic properties were not only renovated, but await LEED certification for their sustainable architecture and green living.

Then in 2005, the 21st Century Waterfront Project opened, a $120-million transformation of downtown where it meets the river.

“We’ve seen a paradigm shift,” said Doak. “The amount of changes happening to our community has been significant.”