A view of Moccasin Bend from Point Park Lookout Mountain. / Photo courtesy of Chattanooga Public LibraryThe roots of the Friends of Moccasin Bend National Park go back to 1920, when Adolph Ochs, publisher of The Chattanooga Times and The New York Times, offered to put up half of the cost of preserving Moccasin Bend. That effort was shelved, but other citizens over the years tried to protect this unusual piece of land. Mrs. J.W. (Nell Evans) Johnson, Judge Will Cummings, Mayor Ed Bass, Paul J. Kruesi, Mrs. Alex (Charlotte) Guerry, Dr. Wilbur Butts, Lou Williams, Cartter Patten and Elizabeth Patten, Mrs. Robert (Margaret Kruesi) Killebrew, Sherman Paul, and Sophia Long were among those who rallied to save the Bend.
In 1950 Congressman J.B. Frazier introduced National Park legislation to set aside 1,400 acres on the Bend. Unfortunately Gov. Frank Clement in his first day in office in early 1953 refused to issue the necessary $100,000 check on behalf of the state of Tennessee, and that initiative failed.
Citizen support for a national park coalesced again in 1995, when the board of the Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute formed what became the Friends of Moccasin Bend National Park. Early members included Jay Mills, Dan Saieed, Pope Holliday, Karen Diamond, Sally Robinson, Meg Beene, Becky Browder, Bob Hunter, Tom Decosimo, Mike Mahn, Adele Hampton, Jack McDonald, Leighton LeBoeuf, Terry McIntosh, Don Drennon-Gala, Tom Kunesh, Neil Thomas, Karen Stone, Beth Wamp and Mickey Robbins.
The Friends met with U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp late that summer. He agreed to make protection of the Bend one of his signature projects and began an eight-year effort working with elected officials, Native American leaders and local citizens to achieve national park status. Congress passed and President George Bush signed legislation in 2003 bringing the Bend into federal ownership.
The Friends expanded its roster to include Eleanor Cooper, Bob Doak, John Edwards, Becky Gregory and J.Ed Marston as well as Executive Director Shelly Andrews and consultants Bobby Davenport and Dr. Duane King. In late 2005, Greg Vital, president of Independent Healthcare Properties (now Morning Pointe Assisted Living and Memory Care), made a major gift to the Friends that launched an educational and historical awareness program through lectures to support development of the park.