If you came of age in Chattanooga any time since the middle of the 20th century, chances are good that you’ll instantly recognize the waterfront location in the accompanying photograph.
The beach area at the south end of the Chickamauga Dam, beside Chickamauga Lake, has been one of the city’s favorite picnic and swimming spots for decades.
This photo, taken in the early 1960s, is part of a collection of images recently shared with the website ChattanoogaHistory.com by local attorney Hugh J. Moore Jr., who said the photo was taken either by himself or his father.
Moore said in an email interview that his father, Hugh Moore, was a lieutenant in the Tennessee Valley Authority Public Safety Service, “which provided law enforcement and visitors services on the TVA reservation.”
A newspaper clipping from the April 19, 1962, Chattanooga Times notes the dam was the most visited of all of TVA’s properties that year, with 157,000 visitors in the first three months alone.