Ross’s Landing in downtown Chattanooga was named for Cherokee Chief John Ross and his father, a Scottish trader. Ross’s Landing was the first name of Chattanooga. Staff File Photo by John Rawlston.What’s in a place name? Lots of history, that’s what. Through the years, local historians such as the late Zella Armstrong, author of the two-volume “History of Hamilton County and Chattanooga,” have chronicled the naming of area sites:
CHATTANOOGA – The name came from white settlers’ pronunciation and respelling of Tsatanu-gi, chat-to-noo-gee or cha-ta-nu-ga, which in the Creek Indian language means rock coming to a point, or end of the mountain. The word was the Creeks’ description of Lookout Mountain, which remains the dominant landmark of Chattanooga.
TENNESSEE – This name was Cherokee. Tanasi [sometimes spelled Tanase, Telasi, Tenassee, Tunissee] was the historic Overhill Cherokee village in Monroe County, now submerged by water backed up by the Tellico Dam on the Little Tennessee River. Tanasi served as the de facto capital of the Cherokee from about 1721 until 1730.
ROSS’S LANDING AND ROSSVILLE – Named for Cherokee chief John Ross and his father, a Scottish trader, Ross’s Landing was the first name of Chattanooga. The town grew around Ross’s trading store beside the river. Rossville was named for Chief Ross, who had a house and farm there.
AMNICOLA – Named in Latin and translated as dwelling by the river or bank of the river, Amnicola was the 1870s farm name of the Thomas Crutchfield plantation.