Moccasin Bend map

aerial view of Moccasin Bend

M o c c a s i n . B e n d

One of CITA's constant efforts is working at preserving our Native American cultural heritage and burial grounds out on Moccassin Bend, just west of downtown Chattanooga.

There have been several plans proposed to develop Moccassin Bend as a tourist attraction, fancy residential area, or national park. Our hope is that the burial grounds will remain as sacred and inviolate as Euro-American cemeteries, while remaining accessible to Native Americans for ceremonial use.

    Historical Significance
  • Paleo (Stone Age) Indian sites (12,000-8,000 bce)
  • Early Archaic and Middle Archaic Sites (8,000 - 4,000 bce)
  • Late Archaic sites (4,000 - 1,000 bce)
  • Early and Middle Woodland sites (1,000 bce - 600 ce)
  • Late Woodland burial mound complex (600 - 900 ce)
  • Mississippian Indian and Spanish contact site (900-1650 ce)
  • Creek occupation
  • Cherokee and Chickamauga towns (1776 - 1838 ce)
  • Civil War Battle of Chattanooga fortifications, bivouacs, camps water batteries (1863)
      Recognition
    • 1984 National Register of Historic Places - Archaeological District
    • 1986 National Historic Landmark
    • 1993 Native American Burial Ground by CITA -
      the Chattanooga InterTribal Association
    Importance
  • One of the most important Native American sites inside any major U.S. city
  • Represents the historical Native essence of Chattanooga
  • The last vestige of Native American culture in the area since the Removal of the Five Civilized Tribes on the Trail of Tears in 1838.

The Chattanooga InterTribal Association (CITA)

  1. supports absolute preservation and protection of the cultural and natural resources of Moccasin Bend.

  2. believes that Moccasin Bend will not be safe from local development plans until it becomes US federal property and thereby protected by US federal laws such as the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA 1990); the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA 1978); the Archaeological Resource Protection Act (ARPA 1979); the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA 1966); the Executive Orders for Protection and Enhancement of the Cultural Environment; the Executive Order for Indian Sacred Sites; the Archeological and Historic Preservation Act (AHPA 1974); and the Environmental Policy Act (EPA 1969).

  3. supports the US National Park Service efforts towards collaboration with Native nations in preserving and protecting the cultural and natural resources of Moccasin Bend.

  4. opposes any new construction insofar as it would extend or change the existing buildings' footprint on Moccasin Bend.

resources:


CITA uktena to Save the Bend ©CITA 2000 ACTION:  Marches to Save the Bend, april-? 2000
Moccasin Bend to downtown Chattanooga.


Moccasin Bend
in the news

CITA does not necessarily endorse the perspectives of these newspaper articles but provides them here for educational purposes only.

Kevin Smith's listing of articles on Moccasin Bend at Tennessee Archaeology in the News also used.

other sordid info ...

  • an Interview with Jack Lupton, heir of a local Coca-Cola fortune, and
    the money behind Chattanooga's commercial development on Native grave sites.

  • simple questions and simple answers on the Chattanooga RiverPark
    development that encompasses Moccasin Bend.

  • an interesting letter from the TN Outdoor Drama Association (TODA) that wants to follow through with the MasterPlan's directives to construct an outdoor amphitheater to put on Civil War dramas to you tourists in the summers. (followed by a CITA member's commentary).

  • contact: cita@chattanooga.net