A city of surprises: From Bessie Smith to gorgeous views, Chattanooga has lots to offer

You can’t help humming the tune at mention of the name Chattanooga. Yeah, the choo-choo tune. Once heard, then it sticks — this buoyant Big Band number written in 1941 and recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, and forever defining Chattanooga in the imagination, if only lyrically.

Neighboring Nashville and even Memphis rightly lay great claim as music cultural capitals, but this city of bridges and bluffs has more than one song to its musical cannon.

'Empress of the Blues'

When it came time to renovate the Chattanooga African American Museum around 2020, the museum was wisely expanded with the Bessie Smith Cultural Center at the Chattanooga African American Museum (200 East Martin Luther King Blvd. bessiesmithcc.org). The new collection not only honors one of modern music’s first ladies, blues legend Bessie Smith, a Chattanooga native, but also the city’s musical legacy, which of course is greatly tied to African American culture, as is all modern American music.

Thus, the Bessie Smith Cultural Center collection both expands on the great singer’s legend and also covers Black musicians with roots in the city. Actually, it covers some who do not have a direct connection.

For two decades, from her signing with Columbia Records in 1923, to her death in a car accident in 1937 at age 43, for a time Bessie was the Beyoncé of her day: a beautiful, flamboyant jazz age star, a trailblazing flamboyant Black woman seeking to be visible at a time when Black women were invisible.

Inside the museum, her presence is far from invisible: the Empress of the Blues’ primal wail murmurs quietly in the background as a video display parlays her 1920s hits, such as "Downhearted Blues.” By that time, Smith was living in the Northeast, escaping Southern oppression and furthering her career. But the good times would be followed by a downturn during the Depression, and then as her was star was once again rising came her untimely death. She was not brought home to Chattanooga but buried in Philadelphia, and without a headstone. It’s telling of Bessie’s influence that rock great Janis Joplin put that right with a proper headstone marking the grave.

Here at the museum, it is young, beautiful, vivacious Bessie’s glory days, filled with hope — and hard work — that are most keenly felt. Posters announcing recordings and performances hang on the walls, and her beaded black flapper dress lies inside a display case. It looks tiny  — she seems a larger lady than would fit it; it shrank at some point, a museum attendant told me. Like Bessie, the dress is more fragile than it looks, he added.

Along with other ‘Nooga artists, such as doo-wop trio the Impressions and singer Montego Glover, star of the Broadway hit musical "Memphis," among other things, Texan hip-hop artist Usher’s spacey silvery outfit from his Las Vegas residency is part of the museum’s larger look at African American music.

The Bessie Smith Cultural Center and Chattanooga African American Museum lie in what is now downtown’s Martin Luther King District. Perhaps, this very street is one where an orphaned Bessie and her brother would literally sing for their supper before the legendary blues singer Ma Rainey took Bessie under her wing. The area was formerly known as the Big 9, after its location around Ninth Street, which was apparently home to many great jazz and blues clubs, creating a nightlife and cultural center that lasted from the 1920s to the 1960s.

Each year, Bessie Smith’s Big 9 Music Fest (2024 was in April) is held on the lawn in front of the museum, lighting up Martin Luther King Boulevard with music from local artists. Bessie’s Big 9 festival and the city’s summer-long outdoor music program and community programs such as the nearby Songbirds Foundation, a music therapy and education facility, goes some way to acknowledge and redress losing what sounds like quite a scene.

Architecturally eclectic

Adjacent to the Bluff View Arts District, once a stronghold of mansion homes belonging to the city elite, the Hunter Museum of American Art (10 Bluff View St. huntermuseum.org) is an eye-catching building in itself. Given its position on a high bluff overlooking Maclellan Island, an 18.8-acre nature sanctuary and a picturesque blob of greenery in the Tennessee River, it’s positively commanding.

And a bit confusing, because it’s made up of three different construction phases, two of which are polar opposites architecturally. The original 1904 classical revival mansion was designed by Abram Garfield, the son of president James A. Garfield, as a private home. The building housed the museum since its opening in 1952, but rather daringly the 1975 expansion added what is termed a brutalist addition but is far too pretty a piece of angular modernism to fully fit that more stark style. The less controversial 2005 addition simply gave the Hunter a new entrance.

Inside, the museum houses American works of art ranging from Hudson River School impressionism to modern art. The museum is named after George Hunter, who inherited the local Coca-Cola bottling empire.

At the foot of the museum is one of the city’s newest and hippest hotels, The Edwin Hotel, Autograph Collection (rooms from $249. 102 Walnut St. theedwinhotel.com). Though part of the vast Marriott empire, The Edwin cops an early zeros boutique opulence with bold colors and abstract art changing up from the usual grays and beiges dominating new hotels, especially chain ones. Rooms are nicely equipped and the sprawling lobby offers various sitting areas. There’s a heated outdoor plunge-style pool, too.

The onsite restaurant Whitebird pairs progressive modern eating with Appalachian traditions — how about the tempeh scramble for breakfast?

The adjacent Provisions is a grab-and-go for snacks and well-made coffee and teas. The rooftop bar, the Whiskey Thief, is true to its name and features Tennessee whiskeys by the dozen, among other drinks of course.

Both the Whiskey Thief and Whitebird have the advantage of overlooking the Walnut Street Pedestrian Bridge, a beautiful duck egg blue iron and wood bridge — Edwin Thacher was the chief engineer for the bridge, hence the hotel’s name.

A gorgeous spot to scroll

Built circa 1890, the bridge connected downtown with the historically black North Shore, now a largely residential neighborhood but one with restaurants and shopping that are worth checking out — especially as the trek offers an opportunity to walk the entire bridge. As benign and beautiful as the bridge seems, it is a silent witness to the Civil Rights movement. Two black men were lynched and hung from its girders on two separate occasions. Protest of the 1906 murder made its way to the Supreme Court and remains the only Supreme Court criminal trial ever.

Now, it is the beauty of the Tennessee River that captivates here, and the Tennessee Riverwalk is a gorgeous spot to stroll and enjoy this curvy waterway.

But what of the Chattanooga Choo Choo and its “nothing could be finer” dining car? Not far from the Songbirds Foundation in the hip Southside District, just over a mile from Sculpture Fields at Montague Park (1800 Polk St. sculpturefields.org), a 33-acre park with large-form art installations and sculptures, is what is named the Chattanooga Choo Choo.

In 1973 the early 1900s-built Terminal Station was saved and preserved as an entertainment complex, which included the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel. After renovations in 2023, it was renamed Hotel Chalet at the Chattanooga Choo Choo (rooms start at $124. 92 Choo Choo Ave. thehotelchalet.com). The hotel includes unique Pullman train cars amongst its guest rooms, two full-service restaurants and numerous bars, two music venues, a comedy club, a distillery plus shopping outlets. And to quote the song, Chattanooga adds up to a “a really solid Tennessee excursion.”

The End of the Mountain

Of course, for thousands of years, around 12,000 in fact, the land in this area was home to Native American tribes: there is the Muscogee, Chickamauga, Yuchi and then the dominant Cherokee.

The Cherokee called this place where Chattanooga stands Tsatanugi, which translates roughly as “rock coming to a point” or “end of the mountain,” both referring to the famous Lookout Mountain, which begins in Chattanooga and stretches 88 miles through Alabama and Georgia.

Lookout Mountain is located about 6 miles south of Chattanooga, which was originally called Lookout City, before city officials settled on its current name in 1838. Besides an astounding view over the vast plain that forms the Tennessee River basin — head to Sunset Rock for truly memorable photos, Lookout Mountain has many visitor attractions like Ruby Falls, one of the U.S.’ tallest waterfalls set inside a cavern, and the Incline Railway, among the world’s steepest passenger railways at a vertigo-inducing 72.7% grade. Sunroofs allow for expanded viewing.

The Chickamauga Chattanooga National Military's Point Park, where cannon still stand on a scenic overlook and the Battles for Chattanooga Museum (1110 East Brow Road. battlesforchattanooga.com) showcase local Civil War history. The military awarded National Medal of Honor has its beginning in the bloody Civil War. Back downtown, the Charles H. Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center off First Street (2 West Aquarium Way. mohhc.org) honors its creation and its recipients.

In the “who knew?” category, near Lookout Mountain in the St. Elmo neighborhood is the International Towing Museum (3315 Broad St. towingmuseum.com). It might not be surprising that this is the only museum in the world dedicated to so-called recovery vehicles, and it is here because the first recovery vehicle was created in Chattanooga, a city with more than just a choo choo in its history, then.

For more info: visitchattanooga.com.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Chattanooga: A city of bridges and bluffs, song and surprises