Local dignitaries and stakeholders jammed into the upstairs banquet room at Ruby Falls overlooking Chattanooga on Thursday evening, and cheers rumbled forth at the announcement of a new visitors center on Moccasin Bend.
But worry hung over the room amid the discussion of a plan for a new psychiatric hospital to replace the 60-year-old Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute — with new construction on Moccasin Bend, even though it’s been designated a national archaeological site.
National Parks Partners hosted the forum, which drew a friendly audience of more than 100 people huddled around tables sipping drinks and nibbling from an abbreviated buffet.
Brad Bennett, superintendent of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, broke news of the visitors center groundbreaking, expected to start mid-October.
(READ MORE: Moccasin Bend public forum seeks transparency, preservation)