At Point Park, Larry and Heather Ainsworth, of Tampa, Fla., pay the entrance fee to the national park site recently. The couple had their infant, Marissa, in a stroller.Come Monday, you’ll have to shell out a little more money if you want to take in one of the best views in Chattanooga.
Fees to enter Point Park on top of Lookout Mountain are going up from $3 to $5. The new $5 tickets will be valid for seven days, rather than just one. The fee for an annual pass will rise from $20 to $30, according to a news release.
At Point Park, Larry and Heather Ainsworth, left, of Tampa, Fla., walk in a light rain and prepare to enter the National Park on Thursday. The couple had their infant, Marissa, in a stroller, below.Point Park, a historic Civil War battle site and part of the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park, is the only part of the park that requires a fee. Chris Young, a park ranger at Chickamauga Battlefield, said the increase was part of a new tier system the National Park Service is introducing across all parks.
“Right now, different parks charge different amounts,” Young said. “They’re trying to get all the iconic parks to charge the same fee, and the national military parks to charge the same fee. They’re trying to standardize it.”
Young said revenue from the fees likely would go toward repairs and upgrades around Point Park. The park recently finished cleaning the bronze sculpture of a Union and Confederate soldier shaking hands atop the New York Peace Monument, but Young said there’s still more upkeep to be done. A key task is to cut back trees and invasive plants like kudzu and privet hedge that are blocking the park’s historic views.
“Lookout Mountain not having obstructed views is a good thing, because it can transport visitors back to 1863,” Young said. “They can see Moccasin Bend, the Tennessee River and Missionary Ridge just as soldiers saw them back then.”
Young said the extra revenue also could pay for more permanent exhibits at the Ochs Museum, which is just a short hike down from Point Park. The museum now features temporary exhibits on the “Cracker Line” supply line that broke through to save the Union Army in Chattanooga, the history of Moccasin Bend, and signal flags used on Chattanooga mountaintops during the Civil War.
More than a million people visit the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park annually. While there isn’t a definitive number of how many visit Point Park specifically, Young said more than 64,000 were recorded at the visitors center last year, and he said that, in addition to that number, “way more” either miss or skip the visitors center and go directly into the park.
Contact Will Healey at whealey@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6731.