LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, Tenn. — A steady stream of would-be visitors to Point Park were met with disappointment Thursday morning as they discovered the national military park’s iron gates closed and locked amid the federal government’s partial shutdown.
“It took us a second to realize why it was closed, and then I was like, ‘Oh, the government’s shut down,'” said Lainey Hooker, who’d stopped by with her husband, father and young child on their way to Florida. “It’s kind of annoying knowing that the guys who are closing this are still getting paid.”
The Hookers said they are distant relatives of Joseph Hooker, a Union general who fought at Lookout Mountain.
“I really wanted them to see the portrait of Joe Hooker on the horse,” said James Hooker, who is a Civil War reenactor and has visited the park before.