Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park

LisaJune 22, 2018

We headed out to our last stop during our weekend in Chattanooga: the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. The Battle of Chickamauga was fought in 1863 and was the first battle in the state of Georgia. We started off at the smaller park on top of Lookout Mountain.

Address and Location

You’ll find Point Park on Lookout Mountain at 110 Point Park Road in Lookout Mountain, Tennessee. The Chickamauga Battlefield is a short drive away at 3370 LaFayette Road in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia.

Cost

Admission to Point Park on Lookout Mountain costs $7 for adults over the age of 16. The pass is also valid for seven days. Admission to Chickamauga Battlefield is free. As always, America the Beautiful pass holders get in for free.

What to do

Lookout Mountain

Lookout Mountain served as a key strategic position because it looks directly over Chattanooga. This location has a few memorials and cannons and won’t take long to walk through. But don’t climb on cannons. And parents, don’t let your kids climb on cannons. They aren’t toys. Lookout Mountain also has several Ranger and re-enactor programs throughout the day.

Cannons overlooking the Tennessee River in Chattanooga

The Point Park gatehouse at Lookout Mountain

Chickamauga

After Lookout Mountain, we made the short drive to the main battlefield at Chickamauga in Georgia. As with every other Civil War battlefield I’ve visited, Chickamauga is mainly fields, cannons, memorials, and a few buildings. I would highly suggest the Visitor’s Center to grab a battlefield map and to explore the exhibits there. Chickamauga doesn’t have the same amount of battlefield direction and narration like other major battlefields. They don’t have signs at the various key points explaining what happened.

I personally enjoy touring battlefields with or without signage to tell me what’s going on. I also recommend taking an Army officer with you. I’ve learned so much about strategy and battles while wandering battlefields with Mac. We hit the first few major points and walked around the different memorials. After the observation tower, we decided to hit the road to avoid Saturday afternoon traffic in Atlanta.