Darrin Ledford, the city's deputy chief of staff, has ridden his bike down Manufacturers Road to Moccasin Bend hospital "many, many times over the years." He said so at the Sept. 26 opening of the Moccasin Bend Connector. Then he described standing on the new pavement for the first time while tractor-trailers passed: "For the first time in my life, I felt like we finally had a safe path."
The ride he described ended at the hospital. The state had announced a new site for the hospital three days before the ribbon-cutting, and it dropped that site two days after. The greenway is finished. The question of what eventually happens at the far end of Moccasin Bend is open again. For anyone in Chattanooga who walks, runs, or rides, the connector is the one settled part of the peninsula's future. It leads to Hamm Road, which the National Park Service plans to make the park's main entrance.
A mile and a half, forty years in the making
The Times Free Press describes the connector as a nearly 1.5-mile paved path along Manufacturers Road and Hamm Road. Before it opened, cyclists and walkers on this route shared the road with heavy truck traffic. The city's construction notice set out the route: Manufacturers Road from US-27 west to Hamm Road, then Hamm Road to Moccasin Bend Road.
The idea is older than many of the people now riding it. Greg Herold, an engineering manager with Chattanooga Public Works, said the greenway grew out of planning work from the 1980s. Work didn't begin in earnest until 2015, and design and construction together cost $4.2 million. Drivers who use Hamm Road will remember the cost in other terms. During construction, the stretch between Moccasin Bend Road and Manufacturers Road was cut to a single eastbound lane, and westbound traffic was detoured through side roads.
Jim Johnson, a North Shore resident and longtime trails advocate, described the project in practical terms. "This is barely a mile and a half, but it plugs into so many other stretches of trail." One of those stretches connects toward the river. The group route for Outdoor Chattanooga's Roll and Stroll grand opening followed the protected trail from Hamm Road into Renaissance Park. No published source maps a continuous route from Coolidge Park to the US-27 end, so plan that part of the trip before setting out.
It's the second walking connection on this side of the river to open in a matter of days. The Walnut Street Bridge reopened on Oct. 3. We wrote about what eighteen months without the bridge taught North Shore.
Where the pavement ends
The connector brings you to the park's edge, and the walking continues on two National Park Service footpaths. The NPS describes the Moccasin Bend National Archeological District as having three visitor-access areas: the Hamm Road Gateway Site and two developed trails.
| Destination | What it is | Getting there | Posted rules |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hamm Road Gateway Site | Open field overlooking the Tennessee River | Off Hamm Road, on the left after turning from Manufacturers Road | No permanent facilities yet |
| Brown's Ferry Federal Road | 1.2-mile round-trip footpath | Parking area on Moccasin Bend Road | 6 a.m. to sunset; leashed pets allowed; no bicycles, vehicles or horses on the trace |
| Blue Blazes Trail | Loop through woods and wetlands with a river overlook, near the peninsula's southern end | Moccasin Bend Road, 0.9 miles from Hamm Road, trailhead on the right | NPS page lists no dog or bike rule |
A few details on the ground are less settled than the table suggests. Sources disagree on the length of Blue Blazes: the NPS trail page calls it a two-mile loop, and Outdoor Chattanooga calls it a three-mile loop. Outdoor Chattanooga describes Moccasin Bend in general as pet friendly on a leash, but it doesn't give a rule for Blue Blazes specifically. Both NPS trail pages were last updated in November 2015, so confirm current rules with the park before bringing a dog or a bike past the pavement.
Parking at Brown's Ferry is limited, and National Park Partners recommends carpooling. The park-wide rule from the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park is that all units are open during daylight. They close to the public from half an hour after sunset until half an hour before sunrise. In October, that leaves a short window for after-work walks.
Six days in September
The connector opened in the middle of a week of news about the other end of the peninsula. The Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute has been at the tip of the peninsula for decades, and the state has been looking for a site to replace it.
- Sept. 23: State officials announced a 49-acre site on Birmingham Highway in Lookout Valley, next to Koch Foods and near I-24. The hospital would have up to 200 beds. The search had covered 127 sites in nine East Tennessee counties, and the state expected to stay within its $260 million appropriation. Design was scheduled through the end of 2027, with construction starting in early 2028.
- Sept. 26: The connector opened on Public Lands Day with the Roll and Stroll ceremony.
- Sept. 28: The Tennessee Department of General Services said it would not build at 1001 Birmingham Highway, even though the state had already closed on the property for $2,450,000. The department said it will keep working with state, city, and county leaders "to review additional sites."
The opening-day coverage reflected the plan as it stood that Saturday. Local 3 reported a 2028 construction start and a 2030 opening, and said the move would free the site for new uses. Officials had described the hospital's nearly 100-acre parcel as meant for the protected district and a future historic park, though without a park plan or schedule. Two days later, Chattanoogan.com reported the reversal. County Mayor Weston Wamp said he was "extremely disappointed, particularly considering the widespread support for the site." A spokesperson for Mayor Tim Kelly said the city hopes the state "can secure another acceptable site soon."
The history explains why any plan for the tip is hard to settle. According to Chattanoogan.com's timeline, the state was considering a Moccasin Bend option in 2023. Archaeological findings led it away from building on the peninsula in 2024, and the search went on through summer 2026. The same history that makes the peninsula a national archeological district is part of why a new hospital there was ruled out. That leaves the state looking for a site elsewhere.
The front door is moving to Hamm Road
While the tip's future is unsettled again, the park has a concrete plan for the other end. Next to the new greenway on Hamm Road is the field that Superintendent Brad Bennett calls the gateway site. "This site where we're standing, this gateway site, has been identified as a place where the public will arrive by foot, by bicycle, by car, by school bus, by motor coach to be oriented to why this place is important and what there is to do and see," Bennett said at the opening.
According to Bennett, the first phase is slated to break ground in 2027. It includes off-street parking, restrooms, a bioswale to filter runoff, and a path to the Tennessee River. Over time, the field is meant to become the park's hub for interpretation and education, which Bennett called "the front door of Moccasin Bend."
That puts the parts of the peninsula's future in this order. The connector to Hamm Road is open now. The gateway site's first phase has a target year. The hospital land at the tip is waiting on the state's next site decision. In the meantime, Bennett pointed out what the district already protects: 12,000 years of Indigenous culture and presence on Moccasin Bend, along with ground from some of the key Civil War battles for Chattanooga.
On the water and in the auditorium this fall
National Park Partners lists several programs this fall connected to that history, with reservations through Outdoor Chattanooga.
- Oct. 17 and Nov. 7: Ranger-led kayak tours under the theme "The American Revolution Comes to Chattanooga: Dragging Canoe in the TN River Gorge." Outdoor Chattanooga lists the October trip as "History by Kayak: Chief Dragging Canoe," 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. It's a four-mile paddle with at least 2.5 hours on the water, equipment and a post-paddle shuttle are provided, and it's open to ages 16 and up. The listing doesn't give a meeting point or price.
- Oct. 19: A Moccasin Bend Lecture Series talk, "Through the Civil War with the 14th Ohio Infantry," at 7 p.m. in the Tennessee Aquarium's River Journey Auditorium.
- Nov. 9: The series continues with "Out There: A National Parks Story," at 7 p.m. in the same auditorium.
- Nov. 14: A Civil War earthworks history hike.
The National Park Partners events page is the best place to check for details as these dates get closer. For a first visit, you can start at Renaissance Park, take the connector along Manufacturers and Hamm roads, walk the 1.2-mile Brown's Ferry Federal Road footpath, and be back before the park closes at dusk.
If you're spending time on this side of the river and want to talk through how the new connector and the Hamm Road plans could affect nearby streets, Garrett Cox follows these projects closely and is happy to share what he's seeing. You can reach him through the contact page. Let's Connect.
