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)
But most of the forum was spent on what Moccasin Bend could be, or should be.
A string of local politicians spoke in defense of Moccasin Bend, including Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp, who spoke forcefully about locating the replacement hospital elsewhere.
Scott Martin, administrator for Chattanooga Parks and Outdoors, also expressed urgency about the value a national park would bring to the city and the region. The future trajectory of the city, he said, is better served by a national park than by a mental health hospital.
But the speakers allowed themselves to veer into a future they hope will happen. The dream they spoke of would preserve the landmark and ultimately restore the developed parts. In this dream, tourism will flow from the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park to the bend. They hope more than 250,000 more tourists will visit each year and with them dollars will flow into the area. Stakeholders spoke, a local poet read and the crowd cheered the vision laid forth in front of them.
But the state appears to be moving forward with plans to add the $260 million replacement mental health hospital.
But public anger, and action, is growing. Tricia Mims, executive director of National Parks Partners, steward of the 956-acre Moccasin Bend National Archaeological District, said Chief Michell Hicks of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians plans to fight back against plans to build a replacement hospital.
"They don't usually go out on a limb like this," Mims said.
(READ MORE: Chattanooga mayor proposes moving psychiatric hospital)
State money has already been reserved for the project, passed down from a 2021 Gov. Bill Lee budget. And the Tennessee Building Commission approved the new construction, which will increase the number of beds by 45 to 200, in September — pending an archaeological study that's underway.
Former U.S. Congressman Zach Wamp, R-Chattanooga, who held office from 1995 to 2011, has been an advocate for preserving the land since his time in office. In attendance to support the preservation of Moccasin Bend, Wamp, father of the Hamilton County mayor, shepherded the federal legislation that designated the park a national archaeological district, the only one of its kind in the country.
"The truth is, people don't know what they don't know, and I think we all share responsibility," he said. "We did not do a good enough job explaining to our delegation what in the world is here."
Contact William D'Urso at wdurso@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6125.