Programs at Chickamauga Battlefield (June 8)

photo Point Park at Lookout Mountain

Point Park at Lookout Mountain will be busy with Civil War-related programs Saturday, June 8. Cost is the park's usual $3 entry fee (for ages 16 and older).

Artillery demonstrations: Park rangers and living historians will describe what life was like for artillerymen engaged in the Battles for Chattanooga and fire a reproduction Civil War cannon at 10:30 a.m., 12:30 and 1:30 p.m.

Guided tours: Visitors can learn more about what happened along the historic slopes of Lookout Mountain 150 years ago with tours led by park rangers at 11 a.m., 1 and 3 p.m. Tours start just inside the entrance gate.

Concert: If you can't make it to Riverbend's opening night, you'll have another chance to see one of the bands in the lineup Saturday at 2 p.m. at Point Park.

The 2nd South Carolina String Band will perform mid-19th-century music with authentic instruments. According to park spokeswoman Kim Coons, the songs and instrumental tunes performed would have been considered the "pop" music of the period between the 1820s and the 1860s, when Americans were determined to reject the European classical music forms and find their own distinctly American musical voice.

Visitors are encouraged to bring their own chairs to enjoy this hourlong concert. The concert is sponsored by Friends of the Park and is part of the sesquicentennial commemoration of the Civil War.

(The band will be featured twice Friday, June 7, in Riverbend appearances -- at 2 p.m. as part of Bend Unplugged at the Chattanooga Public Library and at 8 p.m. on the Unum Stage.)

The Lookout Mountain Battlefield Visitor Center is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. For more information, call 423-821-7786 or visit www.nps.gov/chch.

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