An archaeological study of the Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute replacement site is underway, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Thursday, as the bend along the Tennessee River remains state officials’ favored spot to build a new and more modern facility.
There is “an enormous need” to replace the state-owned psychiatric hospital that occupies 86 acres on Moccasin Bend, Lee said in a speech to the Chattanooga Rotary Club in downtown Chattanooga. Lee noted that the proposed new hospital location must still be surveyed to “fully understand the site and make sure that we make the appropriate decisions and follow the process necessary.”
The state’s plan, subject to the study, is to build a $260 million replacement facility on a 13-acre tract within the Moccasin Bend National Archeological District, a unit of the National Park Service and the only district of its kind in the nation. Lee and legislative supporters of the plan favor the nearby site, in part because the state already owns the land, which is where the hospital’s vacant “Winston” building currently sits.
But advocates of relocating the hospital off the bend have voiced concern that the state is moving forward without enough stakeholder input.
Following an extensive public vetting process, the area was established by Congress in 2003 as the nation’s first and only archeological district. With that process came the understanding that the hospital and other structures within the district would eventually be demolished and their sites restored to reflect an earlier period of history.