East Hamilton Co. TN communities and placenames

These are the historic communities, those completely past and those still extant, of Hamilton County south (and east) of the Tennessee River and east of Missionary Ridge, with notable homesteads and prominent geographical features.  Included are post offices, local and long range rail stations, schools, and the oldest church, the last taken mostly but not entirely from the Works Progress Adminstration’s Guide to Church Vital Statistics in Tennessee published in 1942.  In the last two cases, the information comes from the time when schools and churches were racially segregated, and if both were/are present in a community, both are noted.

A sizable portion of this territory was part of James County, Tennessee, which existed 1871-1919, before merging back into Hamilton County.  Those communities and features with an asterisk at the end of their names were wholly or partly in James County, for the entirety its existence or for only a period of that.

Altamede was the country mansion of Judge Lewis Shepherd, Jr. and his wife Lilah Pope which grew into one of the largest farms and dairies in the entire county.  The original house, which stood at the crossroads with Shallow Ford Road, was patterned after that built by his father Col. Lewis Shepherd which once stood in the the modern Mary Dupree Circle.  Judge Shepherd and Lilah’s youngest son Quintus inherited the farm of 1600 acres.

Antioch is a community along Greenwood Road north of Wilcox Boulevard to the southern boundary of Greenwood Cemetery, as well as the western halves of Plumwood Road and Hillwood Drive, whose center historically was Antioch Missionary Baptist Church (1892).

Apison* lies in the southwest corner of the intersection of East Brainerd Road and Apison Pike, or more accurately, southwest of the crossing of the railroad by the former.  It was one of the four incorporated communities of James County.  Before the Civil War, before the arrival of the railroad, really, the community was called Zion Hill.

The community was home to Apison Station on the Ooltewah Cut-off of the East Tennessee, Virginia, & Georgia Railroad (later Southern Railway). When the railroad first came in, they named the station O’Brian, but changed it to Apison after learning there was another station so-named.

The post office of Zion Hill operated in the vicinity 1848-1866.  The post office of Apison has operated in James County 1882-1919 and in Hamilton County since.

Apison School started under James County and continues to this day.  At one time there was also an Apison School (Colored) but it closed before James County folded due to lack of pupils.

The first church in Apison was Zion Hill Cumberland Presbyterian Church, founded in 1846.  The oldest extant church here is Apison Baptist Church founded as New Prospect Baptist in 1856.  Apison United Methodist Church began in 1864 as Zion Hill Congregational Methodist Church; became Zion Hill Methodist Episcopal South in 1868, then Swisher’s Chapel MES and finally Apison United Methodist Church.

Bartlebaugh lies along Champion Road (formerly Old Harrison Pike) east of Solitude Drive to about Wooten Road, but the name also covers a broader area.  Formerly it centered about the intersection of Harrison Pike and old Champion Road, and may have had a small post office at one time.  Much of its original area was drowned by the Chickamauga Dam, and most of the rest is now part of Booker T. Washington State Park.

The post office of Bartlebaugh operated 1897-1905, originally planned to be named Toqua.

Oak Hill School, also known as Bartlebaugh School, operated from the late 19th century until merged with Harrison School in 1938.

Bartlebaugh Baptist Church was founded 1926.

Bartlebaugh was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1972.

Belvoir was the 500-acre dairy farm of Col. W.R. Crabtree, whose home stood at the modern site of Grace Memorial Episcopal Church, that was considered part of the community of Sunnyside.  Belvoir lay mostly east of Belvoir Avenue and Gillespie Trace with (North) Moore Road and Hamilton Place Avenue (South Moore Road) as its eastern boundary.  A small section lay west of Belvoir Avenue that later became Belvoir Heights subdivision.

Bird’s Mill stood on the left bank of South Chickamauga Creek (or Chickamauga River) near the former Brainerd Mission, at the ford on the original route of the road variously known as the Missionary Road and Bird’s Mill Road.  The earlier Missionary Mills stood about a half mile upriver, its wheel powered by water run from Spring Creek.  After the Bird brothers, sons of Philemon Bird, sold the mill, it became known as the Brainerd Mills.

While in operation, it was so good that farmers from as far away as Hill City would bring their grain here, and in the late 19th century and early 20th century, it was a popular enough resort for picnicking, fishing, swimming, etc., that Mission Ridge Incline Railway ran a hack line from its Shallow Ford stop atop the ridge.

Bird’s Mill was also the common name for the eastern part of what later became Brainerd, east of the huge Conner Farm (most of which became part of Belvoir Farm in 1901), as well as a precinct of the 5th Civil District of the county and a voting place, until that shifted to Sunnyside School.

There was a Bird's Mill Post Office whose existence ended when Rural Free Delivery began in 1901.

Birchwood* is the northernmost community of east Hamilton County, lying along Birchwood Pike where it is intersected by Johnson, Defriese, Daughtery Ferry, and Bunker Hill Roads.  It was one of the four incorporated towns of James County. 

The post office of Birchwood (Birch Wood) has operated in Hamilton County 1854-1873; in James County 1873-1914; and in Hamilton County again 1914-present.

Daughtery’s (Doughty’s) Ferry provided transportation across the Tennessee River between Birchwood and Sale Creek community until 1930.  Roark’s Landing just above Sale Creek Island supported trade and transportation up and down river.

The Rutherford Graded School, a subscription school started in 1893, became the community’s first  public school as Birchwood School under James County in 1915.  Birchwood School one of the last two 13 year (12 year) schools in Hamilton County; only Sale Creek School maintained that configuration longer.  Its high school section closed in the late 1970s; Birchwood Elementary closed in 2014.

Its oldest church is Birchwood Baptist Church, founded 1873.

Bird’s Mill stood on the left bank of Chickamauga River (South Chickamauga Creek) near the former Brainerd Mission, near the ford on the original route of the road variously known as the Missionary Road and Bird’s Mill Road.  The earlier Missionary Mills stood about a half mile upriver, its wheel powered by water run from Spring Creek.  After the Bird brothers, sons of Philemon Bird, sold the mill, it became known as the Brainerd Mills.  While in operation, it was so good that farmers from as far away as Hill City would bring their grain here.

Black Ankle* lay south of Ooltewah and west of the railroad tracks in the early 20th century, when it was home to the Afro-American community of that town.  Its central feature was First Baptist Church of Ooltewah.

Black Belt* was an Afro-American community along the Tyner-Harrison Road razed under eminent domain to make way for the Army TNT plant in 1940.

Harrison School (Colored) was established here under James County, and merged into Washington School in 1938.

Blackwell’s Ford* crosses the Chickamauga Creek roughly behind the driving range of Council Fire Golf Course.  From 1871 until 1919, it served as one of the boundary points for the new James County.

Blue Springs existed largely because of the springs and the nearby Blue Springs Landing, which was the left bank anchor of Igou’s Ferry providing access to the right bank of the Tennessee River, as well as a landing for riverboats shipping passengers and cargo up and down river.

Blue Springs School was founded here under James County, later consolidating with three other schools into Friendship School.

Bonny Oaks began 1854 as the home of Jeremiah Dent, son-in-law of Col. Lewis Shepherd, father of the later judge of the same name, later bought and named by Capt. J. S. Peak.  Peak left it in his will to the county for a residential industrial school, which was established when the property was combined with the adjacent Trimble farm purchased and donated by Carter Patten in 1898.

Bonny Oaks Industrial School operated here until 1988.

In 1942, the school hosted John D. Bachman Memorial Chapel in a stone building which replaced the frame building housing the school’s first chapel, the Scott Hyde Memorial Chapel.

The Bonny Oaks area was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1972.

Booker T. Washington State Park established in 1938 as Harrison Bay Negro State Park, becoming Booker T. Washington State Park for Negroes by 1940 until adopting its current name upon desegregation.  The land upon which it was built had previously been the majority of the community of Turkey Foot plus the western end of Bartlebaugh, originally leased from the Tennessee Valley Authority.  It was the first state park for Afro-Americans in Tennessee as well as the first east of the Mississippi River.

Initial construction was begun in 1939 by CCC Co. 3459, which was an all Afro-American unit which lived on-site.  The park opened to the public in 1942, but with few amenities other than some cleared trails and the building from the CCC company camp.

  

The Second World War interrupted further improvements, which resumed in 1948.  The land was finally deeded to the state for a whopping $1.00 in 1950, after which the park was finally dedicated, at which time it had a swimming pool, bathhouses, picnic tables and shelters, camp sites, ball fields, and a fishing area.

Brainerd came into being in 1926 when the smaller communities of Ridgeside, Sunnyside, Dutchtown, and Bird’s Mill merged by popular vote under that name.  Per the resolution approved, the western boundary was Missionary Ridge Taxing District until the intersection of Shallowford and Rogers (Ridgeside) Roads, then east down Rogers Road in a straight line from its end to Chickamauga River, with the City of East Ridge its southern boundary.

They chose the name Brainerd in honor of Brainerd Mission, established in 1817 across the river from Old Chickamauga Town of the Cherokee on land donated by John McDonald, Deputy Superintendent for Southern Indian Affairs during the Revolution, who had had a trading post there 1776-1782 during the war and later farmed it.  In addition to its school, the mission hosted the church congregation named Church of Christ at Chickamauga.

What was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1929 as Brainerd had borders were somewhat different from above, with the area east of McBrien Road and south of Brainerd Road left out, meaning that the actual site of the neighborhood’s namesake, Brainerd Mission, was not included, though still considered part of Brainerd.

The post office of Brainerd (at the eponymous mission) operated in the Cherokee Nation East 1834-1838, having moved from Rossville (at Daniel Ross’ former home in St. Elmo).  Brainerd Station of Chattanooga Post Office opened almost as soon as annexation and operated until service shifted to Eastgate Post Office. 

For decades, the community’s school was Sunnyside School, at first located on Talley Road off Brainerd Road then at its later location which is now Signal Centers on North Germantown Road.  It remained operational until falling victim to the mass school closings of 1989.

Brainerd Junior High School opened its doors on Tuxedo Avenue in 1930, becoming Brainerd Middle in the fall of 1989 then 21st Century Academy in 1994, finally closing its doors in 2009.

Brainerd High School opened its doors in the fall of 1960, briefly as the last whites-only high school before Chattanooga public schools finally integrated.  Controversy over its use of the Confederate battle flag as a sports symbol, the name of its sports teams being Rebels, and its mascot a caricature of a Confederate officer led to near riots in 1970 (those were soon dropped).  Today the student population majority is Afro-American.

Henry L. Barger Elementary School opened its doors the same year, and now operates as Barger Academy of Fine Arts.

The oldest church here is Brainerd United Methodist Church, which began in 1895 as McFerrin’s Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church, South in Sunnyside School at its original location.  The second church, in the eastern end of the Afro-American former Johnsonville community on North Germantown Road, was founded in 1917 as Shiloh Baptist Church, later renaming itself First Baptist Church of Brainerd.  The next church was Brainerd Baptist Church, founded 1927, which is now located in Belvoir Place.  Brainerd Presbyterian Church, founded 1955, moved to East Brainerd in the late 20th century.

TEPCO’s first motorbus line began operating through Brainerd and Eastdale in 1925.

Brainerd Airport operated from 1928 to 1935 on eighty acres on the east side of North Parkdale Avenue just north of Old Mission Road.  It was owned by Southern Flyers, Inc.

Camp Jordan hosted B Troop of the 109th Cavalry of the Tennessee National Guard (nicknamed the Lookout Mountain Guards) 1930-1946, serving as its pasture, stables, and training grounds.  It is now East Ridge’s premier park.

Canachee was the home and estate of Dr. Joseph Gillespie (mayor of Chattanooga 1844-1845) northwest of Chickamauga, to which he moved after selling Altamede to the Shepherds.  The home stood on Shallow Ford Road a little east of the Western & Atlantic Railroad.

Carpenter’s Ford was a crossing of South Chickamauga Creek at the later Audubon Acres, accessed by what are now North Sanctuary Road and the west side of Blue Bird Circle (formerly South Sanctuary, or Scruggs Bridge, Road).  Carpenter’s Mill also stood there from 1838 until sometime during the Civil War.

Cayuga was a 19th century community in Meigs County, south of the Hiwassee River across from Jolly’s Island, named for John Jolly’s town on the island before the Removal.  Due to its isolation from the rest of its county, it mostly interacted with Georgetown and Birchwood.

Chickamauga (Shepherd) as a post-Removal place-name belongs to the area across Airport Road (formerly Chickamauga Road) from Lovell Field going east all the way to Carver Street past Highway 153; this was the first Chickamauga.  The community later became Shepherd after the name of the post office changed to stop confusion with Chickamauga, Georgia.  The original Chickamauga was a Cherokee town where  Brainerd Hills-Brainerd Heights-Wrinkletown is now.

The depot here was first known as Campbell’s Station, with the adjacent village known as Findley.  But soon the depot became Chickamauga Station and the growing village followed suit, aided by the post office’s designation.  The station operated passenger and freight service for 105 years, first for the Western & Atlantic Railroad, then for Nashville, Chattanooga, & St. Louis Railway, and finally for Louisville & Nashville Railroad.

The original community thus named was Old Chickamauga Town of the Cherokee where Brainerd Hills-Brainerd Heights-Wrinkletown is now, and the name is quite possibly from the Shawnee language.  It was also the name of the Cherokee Nation’s legislative and judicial district for the area southwest of Ooltewah (Wolftever) Creek to include Northwest Georgia and Northeast Alabama.  The seat of Chickamauga District was at Crawfish Springs, which in a twist of historical irony became the Town of Chickamauga after the establishment of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.

Hamilton County pioneer Ephraim Hixson operated the post office of North Chickamauga 1833-1838, located somewhere along the creek that bears that name.

From 1850-1878, the residents of the former Poe’s Crossroads changed the name of their community also to Chickamauga by majority vote.  After the 1878 arrival of Cincinnati, New Orleans, & Texas Pacific Railway, that area adopted the name Melville, then Daisy.

When the Army of Tennessee garrisoned here in the summer of 1863, the Confederates of Cleburne’s Division built two square redoubts overlooking Chickamauga Station, one on Dupree Hill and one on Stein Hill.

The day after the Battles of Tunnel Hill, Tn. and of Missionary Ridge, there were four engagements between the Kentuckians of the Confederate Army of Tennessee's Orphan Brigade and those of the Morgan’s (1st) Brigade of Union Brig. Gen. Davis’ (2nd) Division in and in the immediate vicinity of Chickamauga.

The post office here operated as Chickamauga 1850-1863, as Chickamauga Station 1867-1882, as Chickamauga again 1882-1898, and as Shepherd 1898-1955.  When Whorley P.O. closed in 1908, its Rural Free Delivery service was transferred here.

The reason the post office reopened as Chickamauga Station in 1867 was that the citizens of the northern Chickamauga had already named their own post office Chickamauga in 1866. Even after the local P.O. adopted the name Shepherd, the Nashville, Chattanooga, & St. Louis Railway, which absorbed the Western & Atlantic Railroad, kept the name Chickamauga well into the 20th century, not changing the name of the station until the 1930s.

When local postal service ended (along with rail service) and moved to the city in 1955, Chattanooga postmaster Frank Moore chose Chickamauga Station as the name for the neighborhood satellite branch of the Chattanooga Post Office, which moved to Brainerd Hills Shopping Center.  In the 1980s, it moved again to East Brainerd proper.

For more information, including schools and churches, see Shepherd and Wrinkletown.

Chickamauga Camp Ground was at Silverdale Springs and gave birth to Chickamauga (now Oakwood) Baptist Church, Chickamauga (now Silverdale) Cumberland Presbyterian, and Good Springs (later Tyner) Baptist Church.

Chickamauga Gap splits the northern tip of Boynton Ridge in the south from Concord Ridge in the north, allowing for the passage of both the South Chickamauga Creek and the Western & Atlantic Railroad.

Chickamauga Hills* lie immediate west of Peavine Ridge in Georgia and continue north even after the ridge itself peters out.  At least that’s the name they are given on some Union military maps; in some official Union reports they are called the Pigeon Hills.  The locals in Catoosa County, Georgia, just refer to them as “the ridges”.  In east Hamilton County, they help define Rabbit Valley.

Chickamauga Junction was the wartime junction of the U.S. Military Railroad’s Chattanooga & Atlanta Railroad (Western & Atlantic) with Chattanooga & Knoxville Railroad (East Tennessee, Virginia, & Georgia) to enable the first to use Whiteside Tunnel of the second to pass through Missionary Ridge.  The U.S.M.R.R. also designated the point Rover.

Chickamauga River, strictly speaking, begins at the confluence of South Chickamauga Creek with West Chickamauga Creek north of Camp Jordan, though historically this name was applied by locals beginning at the start of South Chickamauga Creek.  This remained the case until the Tennessee Valley Authority used the name South Chickamauga Creek for the same length.

Chickamauga Valley, specifically the Lower Chickamauga Valley, lies east of Missionary Ridge and west of a series of hills and ridges that begins in Hamilton County in the south with Milliken Ridge along the western edge of Hickory Valley.

Chinch Row was a section of tenant housing on Jenkins Road just south of its intersection with Shallowford Road in the early 20th century.

Collegedale began life as Thatcher’s Switch, a company town serving Jim Thatcher’s lime kilns.  Thatcher was born in Salem community at Thatcher’s Landing.  The company town included the Thatcher mansion, housing for workers and foremen, a commissary, a dining hall, and a small rail depot.

When the Seventh Day Adventists chose the site in 1916 for relocation of their college at Graysville, Tennessee, they took over all the buildings and renamed the area Collegedale.  The community incorporated as the City of Collegedale in 1968 to avoid the City of Chattanooga blue laws.  It is now the home to Southern Adventist University.  Collegedale Academy hosts elementary, middle, and high school programs.

The post office of Collegedale has operated since 1919.

At the same time the post office was established, Thatcher’s Switch Station on Southern Railway became Collegedale Station.

Concord was the original name for what is now East Brainerd, though to many that latter name takes in a much bigger area.  Concord took in Hickory Valley from Altamede south, Concord Ridge, most of Red Fox Valley along East Brainerd Road to about Givens Road.  The area along the state line was where Concord and Graysville (Georgia) overlapped.  

From the late 19th century into the 3rd decade of the 20th century, the area was called the area Walnut Grove, reflected in the name of its school.  The name changed to East Brainerd following the creation of Brainerd in 1926, and the main road changed from Bird’s Mill Road to East Brainerd Road; the road was also called Chattanooga-Graysville Pike.

For a short time in the mid-19th century through at least 1863, there was a station called Johnson on the Western & Atlantic Railroad at roughly the point where the tracks crossed the state line.  There was also a wood station at roughly the point where the welcome center for Audobon Acres is now.

The largest engagement between Union and Confederate forces on the day after the Battles of Tunnel Hill, Tn., and Missionary Ridge broke out between Confederates of Maney’s Brigade of Walker’s Division, supported by three regiments of Grigsby’s Brigade, Federals of Beatty’s and McCook’s Brigades of Davis’ Division, each side supported by a battery of artillery, with three divisions behind the Union line.  The fighting lasted an hour before dusk put an end to it and the Confederates escaped.

The community’s school was founded in 1838 as Concord School located at the current site of Concord Baptist Church; it burned in 1863.  The Concord Baptist Church started meeting in the school in 1838 before incorporating as the Baptist Church of Christ at Concord in 1848.  The school operated from 1869 until the Thornbury School replace it in 1875.

In 1878, the Mackie School opened at the site of the modern strip mall adjacent to Heritage Park in a schoolhouse built by the county.  The school relocated to South Gunbarrel (then Silverdale) Road in 1890 and was renamed Walnut Grove School.  Walnut Grove added a high school curriculum in 1896; Robert Sparks Walker, Annie Walters, and Ruth Wofford were its first class of graduates, 24 March 1899.

In 1911, William Walker, whose home stood at the site of Heritage Funeral Home, donated land for a new building, and Walnut Grove relocated to the corner of Bird’s Mill Road and Walnut Grove (North Joiner) Road.  The school became East Brainerd School in 1926 and moved to its current site on Goodwin Road in 2014.

East Brainerd was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1972.

Concord Ridge runs from South Chickamauga Creek to a point overlooking Conner Lane.  In truth, it is the continuation of Boynton Ridge north of South Chickamauga Creek, and helps frame the southern half of Hickory Valley, extending to almost Shallowford Road.

Cross Roads* was the community that grew up around the intersection of Ooltewah-Georgetown Road and Mahan Gap Road.  Its main feature now is Country Place Restaurant, operated by the former owners of Ooltewah’s defunct Kreme House.  I highly recommend it.

Cross Roads School operated under James County until it was annexed to Snow Hill School.

The small community’s church is Cross Roads Missionary Baptist Church, founded 1880.

Cumberland Campground (see Silverdale)

Dividing Ridge* runs north of Ooltewah, framing Savannah Valley on the west as Whiteoak Mountain does on the east.

Dolly Pond sits near the headsprings of Grasshopper Creek at the mouth of the hollow.

Dutchtown was the residential area around the dairy of Jacob Kellerhalls that later became part of the greater community of Brainerd.  Despite the name, its inhabitants were German and Swiss; the Kellerhalls home stood west of Dutchtown (Germantown) Road across from the mouth of Conner Street.  The community boundaries were the Ocoee Transmission Line on the north, Hilltop Drive in the east, East Ridge in the south, and Seminole Road on the west.  The area where Dutchtown lay contains the subdivisions of Idlewild Park, Edgefield, Glendon Place, Kelley Gardens, Wilson’s, Woodlawn Hills, and Lerch Place.

East Brainerd (see Concord)

East Ridge is a town incorporated in 1921 from the earlier communities of Thurman Springs, Penny Row, Nickel Street, Smoky Row, and Green’s Lake (the part in Tennessee).  From about 1900 to 1921 when the town was incorporated, the area was known as East Side.  The areas to the east of Chickamauga River (South Chickamauga Creek) called Frawley and Scruggs were added later.  The town’s northern boundary takes in the south side of Navajo Drive until Germantown Road, then drops south to the line of Anderson Avenue-South Terrace to Chickamauga River (South Chickamauga Creek), then takes in the areas east of West Chickamauga Creek and south of Chickamauga River until the bend where Chickamauga River turns west, then follows that river to the Georgia state line.

At the opening of the 20th century, what was then East Side had two schools, East Side School in the west and Spring Creek School in the east, which consolidated in the fall of 1911 as John Ross School, which in the 1920s became East Ridge School.  In 1930, East Ridge School was joined by Anna B. Lacey School (now East Ridge Church of Christ).  A new Spring Creek Elementary School was added in 1952.  In 1954, McBrien Elementary School opened its doors.

Anna B. Lacey Elementary School closed in 1985.  McBrien Elementary School was merged into East Ridge Elementary in 2009, with the combined school in a new and larger building under the name of the latter.

East Ridge Junior High (now Middle) School opened in 1954.  East Ridge High School was dedicated in 1959.

The oldest church in the community by far is Spring Creek Baptist Church, first established in 1860.

Eastdale was first called Oak Grove in the early 1880s, becoming Hornville in the 1890s.  In 1909, the community voted to change its name its name to Eastdale in hopes of soon being annexed into the City of Chattanooga, even though not even East Chattanooga was yet part of the city.  

The core of Eastdale is the area between Shallowford Road and Wilcox Boulevard from Seminole Drive to the intersection of the two roads, but the name covers a much wider area, north from the City of Ridgeside and Rogers Road and east to Talley Road, then follows Shallowford Road until Shawhan Road, splitting that down the center to Moore Road to include Dalewood Junior High (Middle) School. It also includes the subdivisions to the north of Wilcox Boulevard.

The post office of Hornville operated here 1890-1891.  The post office of Shallowford operated here 1898-1901.

The first public school here was Oak Grove School, established in 1882 at the corner of Shallowford Road and the later Tunnel Boulevard.  It became Hornville School then Shallowford School, which it remained even after the community name-change in 1909.  The Shallowford School closed in the early 1920s due to the condition of its building, with students transferred to Sunnyside School.  When the new building opened in the fall of 1923, it was Eastdale School.  After desegregation, it became Eastdale Elementary School, surviving until the mass school closings of 1989.

Dalewood Junior High School opened here in 1963, in an area where Eastdale and its neighbor Woodmore met or overlapped, but given that its name ties it to Eastdale, it belongs here.  It remains fully operational today as Dalewood Middle.

The oldest church was Eastdale Missionary Baptist Church, founded 1882 as Oak Grove Baptist, sharing facilities with Oak Grove School until the latter moved to a new location on Cleveland Road (Tunnel Boulevard) and Martin Street.  The congregation moved to Ooltewah-Ringgold Road and became Eastwood Baptist in the 1990s; its former building is now Greater Second Missionary Baptist Church.  Eastdale Community United Methodist Church opened in 1995 in the former Eastdale UMC, founded 1927, a few months after the dissolution of the latter.

The oldest church in Eastdale is First Cumberland Presbyterian Church, founded 1841 in the original Town of Chattanooga.

The first motorbus line of TEPCO began through Brainerd and Eastdale in 1925.

Eastdale was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1957.

See also Antioch and South Eastdale.

Edgewater Beach was the recreational area at the Graysville Springs in Georgia just over the stateline on the banks of the pond created by the mill dam.  Before Chickamauga Lake was created, it was a prime water recreation area, with picnic areas and refreshment stands.

No relation to the fictional beach of the fictional town of Haven, Maine, featured on the SyFy Channel TV show “Haven”.

Ellis’ Crossing was the name for the area around the crossing of the Western & Atlantic Railroad by Bird’s Mill Road, and eventually replaced the name Vinegar Hill for the community.  It later became Whorley.

Ewing’s Camp Ground was a religious camp ground in the Zion Hill and later Apison area in the antebellum era and possibly afterwards.

Flatwoods was the local name for the shallow valley between Concord Ridge on the west and Julian Ridge on the east from Bird’s Mill (East Brainerd) Road to Standifer (Gap) Road due to its piney woods.

Friar Branch headsprings rise just south of I-75 across the freeway from Summit Cemetery.

Friendship* centered on the Henry Road and McCreary (Gamble) Road crossroads between Salem to the north and Blue Springs to the south.  The name derives from its church and center of community life, Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, founded 1854.

Under James County, Friendship was served by the post offices of Norman’s Store (1878-1894), Norman (1894-1909), and Work (1909-1914).

Friendship’s nearest riverboat landing was Churcher’s Landing, connected by a road going northwest from the community.  A little farther upriver, McGill’s Ferry provided transportation across the Tennessee River to its right bank.

Friendship School was formed in James County by the consolidation of Blue Springs School, Fairview School, Priddy School, and Rains School, and continued to operate in Hamilton County through the 1940s.

Friendship Baptist Church was founded in 1854.

Georgetown* lies at the intersection of Georgetown Road NW, Ooltewah-Georgetown Pike, Old Highway 58, and Blythe’s Ferry Road (now Highway 60; not to be confused with Blythe’s Ferry-Charleston Road).  It began as a Cherokee settlement centered around the substantial home of George Fields, built in 1812 and still standing.  After the Removal, it served as the site of Hiwassee Camp Ground for religious meetings and the community was called Limestone.  

The post office of Limestone operated 1837-1867.  The post office of Georgetown has operated in Hamilton County 1867-1872, in James County 1872-1877, in Meigs County 1877-1936, in Bradley County 1936-1941, and in Hamilton County again 1941-present.

Georgetown School (Colored) operated until James County reincorporated in Hamilton County; the (almost) eponymous school for white children was located just inside Bradley County.

Hiram Douglas helped establish Georgetown Academy and Georgetown Cumberland Presbyterian Church here in 1847, but the academy closed in 1870 and its associated parish soon shut its doors as well.  Georgetown Baptist Church, still extant, was founded 1883.  

Gibson Farm* spread over a couple of hundred acres just north of West View School.  It was the last working dairy in Rabbit Valley, which once was covered with them.  Pupils at the school sometimes could not go out for recess because cows were on the playground.  Eventually, it sold, but not to a subdivision; it is now the campus of East Hamilton Middle-High School.

Grasshopper spreads out along Birchwood Pike from Grasshopper Road to Sam Smith Road.

Grasshopper Creek* rises from a spring in an unnamed hollow of Dividing Ridge in eastern Hamilton County, almost directly west of of the intersection of Dolly Pond Road  with Rabbit Lane.

Graysville, Georgia sits on the Western and Atlantic division of Nashville, Chattanooga, & St. Louis Railway at the foot of Bermuda Hill/Scrapeshin Ridge.  It is named for John D. Gray, who built the Western & Atlantic Railroad (among others) and made his home here.  

The post office of Graysville has operated since 1856, when it changed from Opelika.  The name Opelika came from the Cherokee settlement locally after the Cherokee-American wars (1775-1795), which in turn was almost certainly the more accurate rendering to the name of the Napochi town destroyed in the raid by natives of Coosa and Spanish soliders under Tristan de Luna in 1560 that the chroniclers of Juan Pardo interpreted as Olitifar.

Green Shanty*, as a community, lay along the northern stretches of Green Shanty Road and Sue Drive which lie in Green Shanty Hollow.

Green’s Lake was, like Rossville in the late 19th to early 20th centuries, a community which straddled the state line with Georgia, centered on the eponymous lake which had earlier been McAfee Springs, then Newnan Springs, and later Lake Winnepesaukah.  The Tennessee section became part of the town of East Ridge.

Greenwood* centered on Greenwood Missionary Baptist Church, founded 1910, at the intersection of Greenwood Road and Snow Hill Road.

Gunbarrel Road, now the major center of retail commerce in Hamilton County, has for decades gone by this name, but it was not always the case.  It originated as the roadbed for the Harrision, Lafayette, & Jacksonville Railroad, whose construction was interrupted and effectively cancelled by the War of the Rebellion.  Afterwards, it became Harrison-Graysville Pike, also known as Silverdale Road.  Bisected in the 1920s by Lee Highway, it lost its northern half from Silverdale to Harrison to eminent domain on behalf of the U.S. Army for its TNT plant.  Afterwards the unnaturally straight portion south of Standifer Gap Road became known as Gunbarrel Road.

Harrison* was the seat of Hamilton County 1840-1870.  It joined the exodus into James County in 1871, but returned in 1883.  Old Harrison has lain almost entirely underneath Harrison Bay since the Chickamauga Dam closed; New Harrison relocated three miles south.  The old site sat at the intersection of Harrison Turnpike, Ooltewah-Harrison Road, and Drew Hunter Road.

When the Army of Tennessee garrisoned here in the summer of 1863, the Confederates of Cleburne’s Division built a square redoubt in town near the county courthouse. 

The post office here operated as Vannsville 1839-1841, and as Harrison in Hamilton County 1841-1873, in James County 1873-1885, and in Hamilton County again since 1885.

Harrison School, now Harrison Elementary, is one of the oldest in the county.  As a nod to its former status as the county seat, the county Central High School moved here from Dodds Avenue to open in the fall of 1963.  J.B. Brown Brown Junior High School opened in the fall of 1967, becoming Brown Middle in 1974.

Union Cumberland Presbyterian Church formed in 1840, but no longer exists.  Harrison First Baptist Church, the oldest extant church, was founded 1850.  Harrison United Methodist Church dates back to at least 1851.

Harrison Bay State Park was established in 1938 but only opened to the public in 1942.  Its first incarnation before that had been as a TVA recreation demonstration area called Harrison Island Park.  It is usually counted as Tennessee’s first state park; what is now Norris Dam State Park was opened to the public in 1936 but was managed by TVA until 1952, being sold to the state the next year.

Initial construction was performed by the TVA in 1937 at what was supposed to be a demonstration site.  Once the state park was established, CCC Co. 4495 moved in to take over.   Like its neighbor to the south, construction was interrupted by the Second World War.  The land, originally leased from the Tennessee Valley Authority, was finally deeded to the state in 1950, after which it was dedicated officially and by which time it had picnic areas, boat docks, swimming areas, maintenance buildings, and roads.

Hawkinsville was the pre-TNT plant Afro-American section of Tyner along Hickory Valley Road between Chattanooga-Cleveland Pike (Bonny Oaks Drive) and Shot Hollow Road.

Tyner School (Colored) operated in the community until being consolidated with Magby Pond School and Turkey Foot School into Booker T. Washington School in 1924.

Phillip’s Temple Methodist Episcopal Church was established in 1888, becoming Tyner Methodist Church, Central Jurisdiction in 1939.  After the United Methodist Church formed in 1969, the congregation moved into a new building with a new name, Washington Hills United Methodist Church in that part of what used to be known as Jersey.

Hawkinsville Missionary Baptist Church was founded 1910, removing along with the community to New Hawkinsville in 1941.

When the Army commandeered this section of the county for its Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant (aka TNT Plant), residents dispersed throughout the county mostly, but about ten percent founded a new community they named New Tyner to the southeast on Pinewood Drive and Min-Tom and Will Keeley Roads.  Its Baptist church became New Hawkinsville Baptist.

Hickory Valley runs from Harrison to Concord Golf Course and South Chickamauga Creek.  Until the coming of the railroads, the post road connecting with the Old Federal Road ran through here.  Its southern half is defined in the east by Concord Ridge and in the west by a series of elevations known as Vinegar, Trading Post, Stein, Dupree, and Milliken Hills.  The post office of Hickory Valley operated 1840-1842.

Vinegar Hill is where Brainerd Hills lies; Trading Post Hill is where Alhambra Shrine and Roselawn are; Stein Hill is where Marimont and the water tower are; Dupree Hill runs north of Highway 153; Milliken Hill runs north of Shallowford Road.  The whole length is sometimes referred to as Milliken Ridge.

Holmes was a whistle-stop on the Western & Atlantic Railroad that for a brief time gave its name to the small surrounding neighborhood in the vicinity of what is now Quintus Loop.  Its reason for existence was to serve Chickamauga Quarry and Construction Company, which was later bought by Vulcan Materials.  The name of the quarry itself, at least the first at the site, was Holmes Quarry.

Honestville* lay along Ooltewah-Harrison Road just west of its intersection with Drew Hunter Road.

Honestville School merged with Ooltewah School either before or at James County’s reintegration in Hamilton County.

Honestville Baptist Church still meets.

Hornville (see Eastdale)

Howardsville* grew around a station on the Ooltewah Cut-off of the East Tennessee, Virginia, & Georgia Railroad (Southern Railway).  It survives at the intersection of Apison Pike and Howardville Road.

Howardville School, established under James County initially as Union Shed School, survived its reintegration into Hamilton County but merged with Apison School in 1925.

Huckleberry Pond* is at the upper end of Banks Road in Ryall Springs.

James County* existed from 1871 to 1919, when it reintegrated into Hamilton County.  Taking in most of the area covered here, its eastern boundary ran down the middle of the Tennessee River, taking in Dallas Island, before hitting land below the mouth of Harrison Spring Branch, going southeast to pass east of the former home of George House (the “House House”) at 7417 Cleveland Pike and from there in a straight line southwest to Blackwell’s Ford on the South Chickamauga Creek behind the driving range at Council Fire Golf Course, and from there to the Georgia stateline.

Jersey was a small community that grew up around the station on the Chattanooga Extension of the East Tennessee & Georgia Railroad, in the northwest corner of the Jersey Pike crossing.  

The post office of Jersey operated 1889-1904.

Jersey School opened in the early 20th or late 19th century at the crossroads of Lightfoot Mill Road and Chattanooga-Cleveland Pike (Bonny Oaks Drive).  It operated until consolidating with Kings Point School in the 1940s, which became Hillcrest Elementary School in the 1960s.

Johnsonville was an Afro-American community south and west of the Ridgeside/Rogers and Eastdale Avenue/North Germantown crossroads to Sunnyside and Missionary Ridge.  According to C.B. Robinson, whose parents lived there and who lived there himself until moving to Glenwood, residents of the western section were bought or forced out in the late 1800s by John T. Shepherd to make way for his Hill Glen Dairy farm, with more removed by his son Paul to make way for the Shepherd Hills subdivision.

The eastern section of Johnsonville survived well into the mid-20th century, spilling east over North Germantown Road and making up most of what is now called Menlo Park.

The community hosted one of the oldest public schools in the country, Mission Ridge School (Colored), established 1868, until it relocated to Eastdale and adopted the name of that community.

The other center of life in Johnsonville was Mission Ridge Baptist Church, formally organized in 1874, and it survived the erasure of the community by several decades.  An additional part of Johnsonville still extant is Pleasant Gardens Cemetery.

In 1917, residents of the remaining eastern section of Johnsonville organized First Missionary Baptist Church of Brainerd on the corner of North Germantown and the eastern section of Rogers.

King’s Point lies at the end of Forest Road off Harrison Pike.  It was originally planned to be a town centered on the station of the Cincinnati, New Orleans, & Texas Pacific Railway, and you can still see the neatly arrayed blocks into which it was laid out.  

The post office of King’s Point operated 1883-1898.

Kings Point School was established early in the second decade of the 20th century on Harrison Pike opposite the western end of Benton Drive.  It operated until being consolidated with Jersey School as Kings Point-Jersey School in the 1940s.  In the 1960s, this consolidated facility became Hillcrest Elementary School.

Kings Point Baptist Church stands south of Chickamauga River (South Chickamauga Creek) in what was once the antebellum community of Old Boyce and later the community of Kings Bridge.

Langston (see Westview)

Limestone (see Georgetown)

Little Egypt was a predominately Afro-American section of East Ooltewah.

Lightfoot Mill stood on stilts in South Chickamauga Creek adjacent to its left (west, in this case) bank, near the McCarthy Station on the Western & Atlantic and East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railroads.

Lizard Lope (see Morris Hill)

Lomenick’s Ferry served those traveling the old stage and post road (Hickory Valley Road from Harrison, crossing Hickory Valley at the original Shepherd House to follow North and South Concord Roads south of Igou Gap Road) from Harrison through Hickory Valley to the Old Federal Road needing to cross over South Chickamauga Creek.  The site was also used for baptisms by nearby Concord Baptist Church, for which it became known as the “Old Baptizing Place”.

Long Savannah* lay in Savannah Valley six miles south of Georgetown, centered on Savannah School and Savannah Methodist Church at the north end of Snow Hill Road near its intersection with Highway 58.  Before the Removal, there was a Cherokee community here, and one of the precincts of the Chickamauga District voted here.

The post office of Long Savannah operated in Hamilton County 1836-1866 and in James County 1872-1904.

Savannah Grove School operated here until consolidating with New Union School into Meadowview School, by the name of which the community is more usually known nowadays.

Savannah United Methodist Church, founded in 1851 as Savannah Methodist Episcopal, is its oldest church.

Long Savannah Creek* rises from a large spring at the foot of Whiteoak Mountain three-tenths of a mile northeast of Meadowview Baptist Church.

Lovell Air Field was established in 1928 on pasture land owned by Dr. J. B. Haskins, across the tracks from Chickamauga railroad depot and village, later growing into the Chattanooga Municipal Airport.

Loyalty (see Snow Hill)

McCallie’s Hayshed Landing was small community on the left bank of the river just above the left bank landing of McCallie’s Ferry that grew up around the riverport of the same name.

McCarty gets its name from the former McCarty Station signal stop on the Nashville, Chattanooga, & St. Louis Railway shared with Southern Railway located where Allied Freight now stands.  Its raison d’etre was Chickamauga Fertilizer Works, a division of A.D. Adair & McCarty Bros., Inc. based in Atlanta, Georgia.  J.D. McCarty was the company’s on-site superintendent, the small community made up of the plant’s workers.

The Sabine Addition to McCarty lay immediately west to intersection of Lightfoot Mill Road and what is now New York Avenue (then West Tunnel Boulevard) with the northern end of the county road now called Tunnel Boulevard, which bore the name Parsons Street north from the railroad tracks to Lighfoot Mill Road.  The former Parsons Street and the still extant Higgs Street were part of Sabine Addition.

After the plant ceased operation, the rail station closed and the community relocated a mile southwest past the western mouth of McCarty Road near the northern terminus of Tunnel Boulevard.  McCarty Road once ran from Lightfoot Mill Road just west of McCarty Depot in a sweeping curve to Tunnel Boulevard, the eastern end being directly north of Southern Railway’s McCarty Switch and the western end directly across from what is now New United Missionary Baptist Church.

The relocated community, which included Cogswell and Acuff Streets, centered on the former McCarty Baptist Church, founded 1929 but defunct for decades.

Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum currently uses McCarty Switch along with the section of track west of Chickamauga River (South Chickamauga Creek) long abandoned by Southern.

McCarty was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1972.

Mackey Branch* runs from its headsprings in Standifer Gap through Red Fox Valley to its confluence with South Chickamauga Creek at Chickamauga Gap.  Sam Watkins of “Co. Aytch” called it Cat Creek.  According to Robert Sparks Walker, the Cherokee name was Tsula Creek.

Maddux* straddled Birchwood Pike (the section now called Harrison Bay Road) south of Shirley Pond Road opposite Dallas Island in the Tennessee River.  Most of Maddux is now either below the waters of Chickamauga Lake or part of Harrison Bay State Park.

Maddux School, founded in James County, survived reintegration long enough to be merged into Friendship School in the late 1930s.

Magby Pond was an Afro-American community that once stood in the area that is now called Murray Hills.  The pond from which the community got its name still exists, though these days it is more of a glorified puddle; on RFD maps of the USPS, it was called McBee Pond.  

Magby Pond School operated there until 1924, when it consolidated with Turkey Foot School and Tyner School (Colored) in Hawkinsville to become Booker T. Washington School.

Morris Hill* was the name for a loosely-defined area originally known as Lizard Lope, whose named changed after the subscription school was built there, at the intersection of what are now Morris Hill and Igou Gap Roads.  The name covered the area spread out west of Julian Ridge and south to East Brainerd Road.

Morris Hill School opened in 1898 under James County and operated until 1909 when it moved to the eastern outskirts of Ryall Springs community and became West Point School, though that was not its final destination.

Morris Hill Baptist Church was founded as a mission of Concord Baptist in 1909 and has operated at its original location ever since.

Morris Hill was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1972.

New Tyner is where the Afro-American community of Hawkinsville relocated after the TNT plant was created.  It originally took in all of Pinewood Drive between Gunbarrel Road and Jenkins Road, along with Will Kelley and Min Tom Roads.  Its center was and is New Hawkinsville Missionary Baptist Church, relocated here in 1941 from the former Hawkinsville section of Tyner along with the community.

New Hawkinsville was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1972.

New Union* grew up in northern Savannah Valley three miles south of Georgetown, near the intersection of Meadowview Road and Grasshopper Road.

New Union School operated under James County until merging with Friendship School.

New Union Missionary Baptist Church, founded 1861, was the reason the community came to exist, and may have started with meetings at Hiwassee Camp Ground near Georgetown.

In the 20th century, the community was also known as New Point.

Nickel Row (aka Nickel Street) was a neighborhood arising in the 1890s that became part of McBrien Road and later East Ridge.

Norman (see Friendship)

Norman’s Store (see Friendship)

Oak Hill lay about the crossroads of North Hickory Valley Road with Harrison Pike/TN Highway 58.

Oak Hill School operated until the establishment of the U.S. Army TNT plant in 1940.

Ooltewah* proper sits in the angle formed by the original East Tennessee & Georgia Railroad and the Ooltewah Cut-off of that railroad’s successor, East Tennessee, Virginia, & Georgia Railroad.  It get its name from the former Cherokee settlement of the same name.  During James County’s existence, it served as the seat of the county court, and the third James County Courthouse still stands.  The town of Ooltewah incorporated in 1917, but later dissolved.

After the Cherokee Removal, this was the site of Union Campground for religious camp meetings until it became one of the original stations on the Chattanooga Extension of the East Tennessee & Georgia Railroad (later East Tennessee, Virginia, & Georgia Railroad, then Southern Railway).  The Ooltewah Station depot stood north of the tracks halfway between Watkins Street and Main Street, and the town, laid out in neat squares, grew south of the railroad.  This first Ooltewah depot operated until the 1910s.

In 1883, the Tennessee State Line Railroad, a subsidiary of ETV&G, built the thus named railway better known as the Ooltewah Cut-Off to bypass the need to travel all the way to Cleveland to get to Dalton from Chattanooga.  The junction was built northeast of town and the depot named Ooltewah Junction.  After the first Ooltewah Station closed, Ooltewah Junction handled all traffic, including passenger service until the early 1960s.  The depot lasted until the 1980s.

The post office of Ooltewah operated 1837-1843, when it became Julian Gap, operating in Hamilton County until 1857 when it moved to Bradley County, returning to Hamilton County as Ooltewah in 1859, moving to James County in 1871, and back to Hamilton County in 1919.  Rural Free Delivery service started out of here in 1904.

Ooltewah School (1-12) already operated at the beginning of the 20th century.  James County High School was built early in the century, later becoming Ooltewah High School.  In the 1970s, Ooltewah High’s grades 9-12 moved into a new building at the southern end of Snow Hill Road, while its grades 7-8 combined with grade 6 of Ooltewah Elementary School as Ooltewah Middle School about a half mile south of town.

In the 1980s, overcrowding at Ooltewah Elementary necessitated opening Mountain Oaks Elementary School in the old high school building that had been newly refurbished.  That closed in 2000.

The first church here was Ooltewah Cumberland Presbyterian Church, founded 1841.  The oldest extant white church is Ooltewah Methodist Church, founded 1870.  The oldest black church is Ooltewah Methodist Church (Colored), founded 1875.

Ooltewah Creek* is now better known as Wolftever Creek, which is a mangling of its older and more proper name.  Its headspring rises in the far southeastern corner of Hamilton County, at the foot of Pine Hill Ridge.

Opelika was the name of the Cherokee village that stretched from Graysville, Georgia, into the later Concord (East Brainerd) community.  Originally, it was the name for the Late Mississippian town of the Napochi that stood on the site of “Little Owl’s Village” at Audubon Acres, which was burned by the Coosa Indians during the Pardo Expedition.  It was the name for what’s now Graysville until John D. Gray had it changed.  The post office of Opelika operated 1850-1856.

Pattentown* was along Pattentown Road between Sue Drive and Bill Reed Road.

Penny Row was a section at the turn of the century of what later became East Ridge that derived its name from a store that specialized in penny items.

Pineville* was a community along the road of the same name in Rabbit Valley.

Prospect* lay along Prospect Church Road west of Apison on the opposite side of Bauxite Ridge.

Prospect School, established under James County, was merged into Apison School either before or at reintegration. 

New Prospect Baptist Church, founded in 1864, is now Apison Baptist Church.

Providence* lay along Providence Road east of the Ooltewah-Georgetown crossroads and Johnson’s (Green) Gap through Whiteoak Mountain.  

Providence Missionary Baptist Church was founded in 1866.

Providence School operated under James County until merging into Snow Hill School.

Rabbit Valley* lies between Whiteoak Mountain on the east and the Chickamauga Hills to the west, from Ooltewah south to Ringgold.  Past Ringgold, it becomes Woodstation Valley.

Red Fox Valley* is drained by Mackey Branch, called Tsula Creek by the Cherokee living there before the Removal and Cat Creek by Sam Watkins of “Co. Aytch”, tsula being Cherokee for “red fox”.  Essentially, it is the continuation of the same basin as Peavine Valley in Georgia.

Ridgeside lies mostly on what was once the Afro-American community of Johnsonville that became a dairy farm.  It was based on John T. and P.W. Shepherd’s Hill Glen Dairy.  When these Shepherds (no relation to those of Altamede and Hickory Valley) began to subdivide the former dairy lands, they incorporated as the Taxing District of Ridgevale, in about 1922.  In 1931, the residents reincorporated as the City of Ridgeside, which includes the subdivisions of Shepherd Hills, Crescent Park, Shepherd Knolls, Glen Park, and Circle Park.  It is still independent.

Rover (see Chickamauga Junction)

Ryall Springs* was a summer resort in the gap between Fuller Ridge to the south and Julian Ridge to the north centered on the large set of springs by the same name.  Before that, it had been Cumberland Campground, the religious camp meeting place for the Methodists of Graysville the Cumberland Presbyterians of Westview, and, possibly, the Baptists of Concord before their churches were organized.  The “Ryall Springs, Unincorporated” sign and nearby pump station survived until the city limits came to Morris Hill Road in the late 1970s.

Westpoint School operated on the eastern outskirts of the community after 1909 before moving a mile further east across the road from Westview Cumberland Presbyterian Church (now Cornerstone Community Church).

Besides the actual Ryall Springs, the community’s center was Ryall Springs Grocery.  In the 1930s and ‘40s, there was a Ryall Springs Hardware and Electric Appliances.  By the 1960s, there were also a Ryall Springs Garage, a Ryall Springs Gulf Service Station, and a Ryall Springs Beauty Shop.

Ryall Springs Branch* rises at the Ryall Springs south of Julian Ridge and north of East Brainerd Road.  There are several springs here within fifty feet.  The great spring was as large and deep as Blue Hole Spring at Red Clay State Park until the 1973 flood.

Salem* centered on the stretch of Birchwood Pike between its intersection with Grasshopper Road and that with Eldridge Road.

Salem’s post office was Thatcher’s Landing (1872-1895) then Thatcher’s (1895-1901).

Salem Missionary Baptist Church was founded in 1835, three years before the Cherokee Removal.

Salem School, founded under James County, survived reintegration to operate well into the 1930s.

Salem had access to Mt. Tabor community on the right bank of the Tennessee River via McCallie Ferry a little to the north.  It had its own riverboat landing, Thatcher’s Landing, and was in proximity to the larger McCallie Hayshed Landing a bit upriver from the ferry.  Old Hickory Landing and Eldridge’s Landing also lay close at hand and Thatcher’s Ferry slightly downstream provided additional crossriver transportation.  

Savannah Valley* runs north of Ooltewah between Dividing Ridge on the west and Whiteoak Mountain on the east.

Scruggs lay between West Chickamauga and South Chickamauga Creeks, and later became part of East Ridge.  But before that, its residents conversed more with those in Concord (East Brainerd) than those to the west.

The post office of Scruggs operated 1899-1905.

Shady Rest* was a small summer resort west of Ryall Springs and east of Concord/East Brainerd proper that gave its name to the immediate surroundings.

Shallow Ford is the ancient ford of the South Chickamauga Creek along the modern road of the same name.  The actual ford itself lies immediately north of the current bridge.  The ford was considered important enough that three different roads were named for it, and when a bridge was first put in, the road detoured about a quarter-mile north (the road bed for the detour, at least on the west side, can still be seen).

Shallow Ford Bridge is the name for the community in the immediate vicinity on both sides of the South Chickamauga.  The post office of Shallowford that operated 1898-1901 was actually in Hornville.

Shepherd, the modern community (formerly Chickamauga), lies west of Airport Road across from Lovell Field, spreading east and north to be bisected by both Shepherd Road and Highway 153 to Carver Street below Grace Works Church atop Dupree Hill.  It also includes Highland Cemetery, Greenhill Cemetery, Citizens Cemetery (West Shepherd Road), and Shepherd YFD Center.  It once included the neighborhood later known as Wrinkletown.

The community got its starts as Chickamauga, Tennessee, so named for its depot, Chickamauga Station on the Western & Atlantic Railroad (then on Nashville, Chattanooga, & St. Louis Railway, finally on Louisville & Nashville Railroad), and its first post office, Chickamauga.

The post office here operated as Chickamauga 1850-1863, as Chickamauga Station 1867-1882, as Chickamauga again 1882-1898, and as Shepherd 1898-1955.  When Whorley P.O. closed in 1908, its Rural Free Delivery service was transferred here.  The railroads all maintained the name Chickamauga for the depot here, regardless of the name of the post office.

Chickamauga School for children of former slaves was founded in 1871, sitting at the site now occupied by Whispering Pines Mobile Homes.  It was forced to change its name to Chickamauga School (Colored) in 1904 when a school for white children with the same name was established in the railroad village, next to Chickamauga Chapel Baptist Church.  

When the Chickamauga Chapel Baptist Church burned in 1915, the building of the white Chickamauga School was saved, but later judged unsafe.  A new building arose on Midland Pike, an extension west of the tracks of what is now named Warlick Street, at the site of the new parking garage at the municipal airport.  This new school fell to expansion of Lovell Field airport in 1935, however, and the original school became simply Chickamauga School once again.

The oldest church here was once Chickamauga Baptist Church, founded in 1867 by freedmen and their families.  Now long defunct, it was, according to the WPA, extant in 1940, a member of the North Chickamauga and Chattanooga Association of the National Baptist Convention, USA.

The oldest continuing church here is Pilgrim Rock Missionary Baptist Church, founded in 1887 as Noah’s Missionary Baptist, a mission of Turkey Foot Missionary Baptist Church to the north.

The oldest white church, also now defunct, was Shepherd Baptist Church, founded 1902 as a mission of Concord Baptist called Chickamauga Chapel Baptist Church.  In the early to mid-1920s, it was called Chickamauga Baptist Church No. 2, dropping the qualifier in 1927 when the first Chickamauga Baptist Church (in the South Baptist Convention’s Ocoee Association) changed its name to Oakwood Baptist.  It became Shepherd Baptist in 1937, until closing in the early 2000s.

Shepherd was annexed into the city of Chattanooga in 1957.

See also Chickamauga and Wrinkletown.

Shot Hollow was an Afro-American community in the late 19th and early 20th centuries lay along Shot Hollow Road, which is now named Oakwood Drive, though half of its eastern extent was cut off by  U.S. Army’s TNT plant in 1940 via eminent domain.  The community centered in the area now called Washington Hills, but it originally sprawled along the full length of the road which reached to Hickory Valley Road and possibly even included what is now Lake Hills.

Booker T. Washington School, established in 1924 by consolidating Turkey Foot School, Magby Pond School, and Tyner School (Colored) was the community’s school and was the high school for all black students in the county as well.

Mount Joy Missionary Baptist Church, founded 1898, was the community’s place of worship.

The area was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1972.

Silverdale is named for the Silverdale Springs which provided water for Chickamauga Camp Ground, a religious camp meeting site about which Good Springs (later Tyner) Baptist, House’s Chapel (now Tyner United Methodist) Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and what ultimately became Silverdale Cumberland Presbyterian Church were founded. 

The neighborhood centered around the “House House” (home of pioneer George House), which still stands.  In the late 19th century there was an attempt to change the name of the community to North Brainerd, but it never caught on.

Silverdale Station, a signal stop on Southern Railway between Cleveland and Chattanooga, operated on the Southern Railway in the early 20th century.

The post office of Silverdale operated 1899-1907.

Silverdale School was founded here in the late 1800s at what was then the eastern edge of Hamilton County bordering on James County.  In 1937, it was consolidated with Tyner School as Bess T. Shepherd School.

Hiram Douglas organized Chickamauga Cumberland Presbyterian Church in the Silverdale home of John Low in April 1839.  This later became Pleasant Grove Cumberland Presbyterian then Silverdale Cumberland Presbyterian.

Silverdale was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1972.

Sivley Ford was the crossing place of the Harrison Turnpike over South Chickamauga Creek at Old Boyce.

Smoky Row was the name in the 1880s forward of the section between Missionary Ridge and Green’s Spring Lake Road that became part of East Ridge.

Snow Hill* proper centered on Mahan Gap Road between its two intersections with Snow Hill Road.  The name eventually spread to Greenwood, Providence, and Cross Roads, and most nowadays consider it part of Greater Ooltewah. 

During the War of the Rebellion, Snow’s Scouts, Confederate bushwackers led by former Sheriff of Hamilton County William Snow, had their base here at Snow’s home, which was surrounded by an earthen redoubt with walls so thick it withstood Federal bombardment.  I’ve dubbed it Fort Snow.  The former sheriff and his men were, according to legend, either killed or run off by former Union soldier and postbellum desperado Joe Richey. 

The post office of Snow Hill operated 1850-1866; after the Civil War, it operated as Loyalty 1866-1872.

Snow Hill’s riverport was Blue Springs Landing

Snow Hill School originally stood on the northern branch of the eponymous road.  Founded under James County, it later absorbed Blue Springs, Cross Roads, and Priddy Schools in James County and survived reintegration of the county into Hamilton County and operates today as Snow Hill Elementary.

South Chickamauga Creek, also known as Chickamauga River (until the arrival of the TVA), begins at the confluence of East Chickamauga Creek and Tiger Creek two miles east of Ringgold, Georgia, and two-tenths of a mile west of Old Stone Church.

South Eastdale was the name for the Afro-American section of Eastdale in the southeast of the suburb whose main streets were Moss Street, South Street, and Line Street.

Eastdale School (Colored), relocated to Line Street from Shallowford Road and renamed from Mission Ridge School, opened here in the fall of 1911.  Upon annexation of the area by the City of Chattanooga in 1957, the city school system closed the school, forcing students to choose between lengthy daily trips to Chickamauga School in Shepherd or the overcrowded Orchard Knob Elementary and Junior High School.

South Eastdale’s church was Mission Ridge Baptist Church, founded 1874 in what was then the western end of the Afro-American community of Johnsonville which was was cleared in the late 1800s for John T. Shepherd’s Glen Hill Dairy.

Spring Creek rises as Black Branch on Chickamauga Battlefield and becomes Spring Creek after going around a bend.  Its confluence with West Chickamauga Creek is just east of I-75 and just south of the I-75/I-24 interchange.

The name Spring Creek also referred to the area east of Nickel Street-Penny Row and west of the eponymous stream.

Standifer Gap* is the gap through the hills along which the road by the same name runs, as well as the rural neighborhood once there.

Sulfur Springs (see Wells)

Summit* proper lies mostly between Chattanooga-Cleveland Pike and Old Lee Highway east of School Street, but spreads out to include the Old Lee Highway-Apison Pike crossroads, west down Old Lee Highway, and the north end of Pattentown Road.  This historically Afro-American community began life as a wood station on the Chattanooga Extension of the East Tennessee & Georgia Railroad.  Summit Station operated on Southern Railway well into the 20th century.

Summit School was founded in the late 1800s under James County, whose border separated Summit from nearby Silverdale, and survived its reintegration into Hamilton County into the 1940s.

There were three churches here: St. Peter’s Missionary Baptist Church, founded 1897, Field’s Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, founded 1898, and Mt. Olive Primitive Baptist Church No. 2.

Sunnyside was the residential area east of Tunnel Boulevard that grew up around the home of Judge James B. Cooke and later became part of Brainerd.  It lay south of Rogers-Ridgeside Road between Seminole Road and Belvoir Avenue-Gillespie Place.  Sunnyside School’s original home in the 1890s was Talley Road, and the dividing line between it and Dutchtown was the Ocoee Transmission Line of the former TEPCO.

Thatcher’s (see Salem)

Thatcher’s Landing (see Salem)

Thatcher’s Switch* (see Collegedale)

Thurman Springs, also spelled Therman, was a Civil War era community on the east side of Missionary Ridge just below the springs of the same name on the side of the ridge behind the Seminole Ridge Apartments.  It was also the end of the line on the Mission Ridge Incline Railway, and, for that trolley’s first two years, Fountain Park.

Timmons’ Spring lay east of Silverdale and is primarily noted for being the site to which the county workhouse was moved in 1900 from its previous location at Whorley.  It remains there today as Silverdale Detention Center, which primarily serves as the county jail while also holding certain prisoners of the State of Tennessee.

Toqua spread north from the right bank of South Chickamauga Creek and east from the left bank of the Tennessee River.  It was named for the Cherokee town there before the Removal.  The area was already called Toqua when John D. King, brother-in-law of Amnicola owner Thomas Crutchfield, built a house here and named it thus.  The village of Toqua lay approximately in the vicinity of the present Amnicola Highway- Tennessee Highway 153 crossroads.  The name faded from the western section with the establishment of the King’s Point community; the eastern section fell to the Chickamauga Reservoir.

A post office of Toqua operated here 1843-1844.  It revived as Sivley 1878-1880, then the name reverted to Toqua again until 1884, when it closed.

Chickamauga Baptist Church was organized at Sivley Spring here in 1838 and served the community until moving to Old Boyce in 1856.

Toqua was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1972.

Trammel’s Crossroads* was an antebellum community at the intersection of McDaniel’s Gap Road (Apison Pike) and Rabbit Valley Road (Ooltewah-Ringgold Road).  Though the crossroads retained some importance, this settlement was superceded by Thatcher’s Switch then Collegedale.

Turkey Foot, also called Turkey Foot Hollow, was a rural organized Afro-American community along the Tennessee River with its own school, churches, local government.  That which wasn’t drowned beneath the waters of Chickamauga Lake became Booker T. Washington State Park.

Turkey Foot School started operation in the late 1800s, surviving until it consolidated in 1924 with Magby Pond School and Tyner School (Colored) in Hawkinsville to create Booker T. Washington School, which established itself in Shot Hollow.  Still noted on RFD route maps of the USPS as late as the 1930s, the school stood on what is now Champion Road a bit north of its intersection with TN Highway 58 (formerly Harrison Pike).

There was a Turkey Foot Post Office; years of operation are unknown but it closed either after the beginning of Rural Free Delivery or at the establishment of the East Chattanooga Station of the Chattanooga P.O.

For decades, the community’s sole church was Turkey Foot Missionary Baptist Church, which sponsored the establishment of Noah’s Ark (now Pilgrim Rock) Missionary Baptist Church at Shepherd in 1887.  In 1932, it was joined by Mount Cavalry Missionary Baptist Church.

The entire length of Webb Road was once named Turkey Foot Road, with a still surviving section in the park now used as a service road.

Tyner lies south of the railroad tracks along Hickory Valley Road and its side roads.  Originally, the village grew up around Tyner’s Station on the Chattanooga Extension of the East Tennessee & Georgia Railroad (later East Tennessee, Virginia, & Georgia Railroad, then Southern Railway), spreading east of the crossing on Ocoee Street and south down Eblen Drive and Tyner-Harrison (Hickory Valley) Road and including the west end of Tyner Road.  It included another short street between Hickory Valley Road and Eblen Drive as well as a few other homes north to Chattanooga-Cleveland Pike (Bonny Oaks Drive) until those fell to the U.S. Army’s TNT Plant.  The name also designated a much wider area.

When the Army of Tennessee garrisoned here in the summer of 1863, the Confederates of Cleburne’s Division built two square redoubts guarding Tyner Station, one on Tyner Hill where Tyner Middle Academy now stands and one in the village of Tyner, which still stands.

The day after the Battles of Tunnel Hill, Tn., and Missionary Ridge, there was a skirmish here between Grigsby’s 55th Ohio Volunteers and Thompson’s 4th Kentucky Infantry.

The post office of Tyner (briefly Tynersville) operated 1860-1972.

Tyner School was founded in the later 1800s and operated as such until merging with neighboring Silverdale School to become Bess T. Shepherd Elementary School in 1937.

In 1907, one of Hamilton County’s four high schools was established here as Tyner High School.  Tyner Junior High School opened in 1959.  The two continue today as Tyner Academy of Math, Science, and Technology and Tyner Middle Academy of Math, Science, and Technology.

The oldest Baptist Church in the county was Good Springs, later Tyner, Baptist Church, founded in 1838.  House's Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church, later Tyner Methodist Episcopal Church, South and now Tyner United Methodist Church, was first organized in 1844.

Tyner was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1972.

Vannsville (see Harrison)

Vinegar Hill is the hill upon which Brainerd Hills and Brainerd Heights are built.  It was named by John and Arthur Steele who had their strawberry plantation here.  It was also the name of the surrounding area before being replaced by Ellis’ Crossing.

Walnut Grove* was the name sometimes used for the Concord community east of Concord Ridge beginning in the late 19th century, derived from the school on South Gunbarrel Road which later moved to Bird’s Mill Road across from the William T. Walker homestead.  Both the road and the school are now East Brainerd.  The use of the different name may have also arisen from the fact that most of the area east of Concord Ridge was in James County 1871-1919, though Walnut Grove School belonged to Hamilton County Schools.

Wells* lies at the western mouth of Julian (Dead Man’s) Gap through Whiteoak Mountain and the southern mouth of Whiteoak Valley, originating as a stop on the East Tennessee & Georgia Railroad.  Before the Civil War, it was called Sulfur Springs Station and operated postbellum as Wells Station on Southern Railway well into the 20th century.

Westview* was centered upon the Ooltewah-Ringgold and East Brainerd crossroads, but extended west toward Ryall Springs, east into Parker’s Gap, south to the stateline, and north to at least Standifer Gap Road.  The area got its name from the huge farm owned by Samuel T. Igou at the western mouth of Igou Gap at the foot of Whiteoak Mountain.

The post office of Westview operated here 1851-1857; the post office of  Langston operated 1894-1904.

Westview School has its roots in Morris Hill School, which moved to the eastern edge of Ryall Springs community in 1909 as Westpoint School, changing its name after relocating a mile east to sit across the road from the church below.

Due to massive overcrowding at the Ooltewah schools, East Hamilton Middle-High School opened here on what used to be the Gibson Dairy Farm in 2009.

Westview Cumberland Presbyterian Church was founded in 1854 on land donated by Samuel Igou, who is buried in its cemetery.  Though Westview church dissolved in the 1990s, Cornerstone Community Cumberland Presbyterian took its place almost immediately thereafter.  Parker’s Gap Baptist was founded as Westview Baptist in 1916.

White Oak was the name of a school under James County at or near the intersection of Standifer Gap Road with Rabbit Valley (Ooltewah-Ringgold) Road, which gave its name to the immediate vicinity as well as the 6th Civil District of James County and precinct of the 4th Civil District of Hamilton County after 1919.

Whiteoak Mountain* rises just south of Georgetown.  After passing Taylor’s Gap at Ringgold, Georgia, it becomes Taylor’s Ridge, at least in name, extending south down into Chattooga County, Georgia.  In its course, it is split by a number of gaps, all of which originally were traversed by ancient pathways. 

From north to south, these are Taliaferro Gap, approachable only by Cobblestone Creek Road from the east; Lewis’ Gap, with Smith Road on the west and Blackburn Hollow Road on the east, which do not now meet; Mahan Gap, crossed by Mahan Gap Road; Johnson’s (Green) Gap, crossed by I-75 Highway; Julian (Dead Man’s) Gap, crossed by Robert E. Lee Highway; McDaniel’s (Collegedale) Gap, crossed by Apison Pike; Igou Gap, crossed by Standifer Gap Road; Parker’s Gap, crossed by East Brainerd Road; and Taylor’s (Ringgold) Gap, five miles away at Ringgold, crossed by US Highway 41.

Whorley was named for William T. Worley, station and postmaster at Chickamauga who moved to this location at Ellis’ Crossing.  With the rail station and post office established, the name supplanted Ellis’ Crossing as a placename until Brainerd Hills and Brainerd Heights were built.  Vinegar Hill was the earliest post-Removal name of the area, which before that was Old Chickamauga Town of the Cherokee.  The only remaining vestige of its existence is the former temple of Whorley Lodge 601 F&AM currently housing Rick’s Lock and Key.  

The post office of Whorley operated 1897-1908.  Rural Free Delivery service began out of Whorley in 1904, moving to Shepherd P.O. in Chickamauga after the post office here closed.  From 1955 until the 1980s, Brainerd Hills Shopping Center hosted the Chickamauga Station branch of Chattanooga P.O.

Elbert S. Long School (1-9) opened its doors in the fall of 1950, and by the 1960s was renamed Elbert Long Elementary and Junior High.  From 1985, the school hosted grades K-6 as Elbert Long Elementary, falling victim to the mass school closings of 1989.

In 1991, the Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts (K-8) opened its doors in the former Elbert Long School, and has been operating there ever since.

Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church organized in 1944.  Brainerd Hills Baptist Church was founded 1946.  Brainerd Hills Presbyterian was founded 1948.

Whorley was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1957.

Wolf Pond centers around the eponymous pond east of Pierce Road and a little bit north of its intersection with Canfield Road.

Wolftever Creek* (see Ooltewah Creek)

Woodmore grew as a community after the annexation of Brainerd and especially after the war, with its boundaries being Brainerd in the south, Eastdale on the west with Talley Road as the boundary between the two, and Shallowford then Shawhan Road to the north.

The city established Woodmore Elementary School in the late 1950s, and it still serves the community today.

Woodmore has several old churches with rich histories, but all of them were first established in other communities.  For example, Greater Tucker Baptist Church was founded in 1906, but as Tucker’s Chapel Missionary Baptist in the Citico City (Lincoln Park) Community.  New Monumental Baptist Church was founded in 1892, but on Gilmer (East 8th Street).  Philips Temple Christian Methodist Episcopal Church was established 1892 downtown as Philip’s Temple Colored Methodist Episcopal, latr moving to College Hill/Westside.

The oldest church founded here is Woodmore United Methodist Church, founded in 1954 as Woodmore Methodist.  In 1964, Trinity Methodist, founded 1888 (McCallie Avenue in Fort Wood), merged with Woodmore under the name of the latter and at its location.  The consolidated congregation became United Methodist in 1996.

Woodmore was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1957.

Wooten* was a signal-stop for a side track for facilities to service cars and engines about halfway between Thatcher’s Switch and Apison that left no trace of its existence other than the name on some railroad maps.  The McKee Foods plant now occupies the area. 

Work (see Friendship)

Wrinkletown lies along Chickamauga (now Airport) Road north of Lee Highway, but south of Chickamauga/Shepherd, up to include Rosedale Drive, Whispering Pines Mobile Home Park, and Rigby’s Trailer Park.  The Whispering Pines site was once the home of Chickamauga School (Colored), founded in 1871 simply as Chickamauga School and forced to change its name after a school for white children opened with the same name in 1904, but reverted after the later school closed in 1935.  Once considered part of Chickamauga, it is not considered part of the community of Shepherd now.

Wrinkletown was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1957.

Youngstown lay along the same-named road between Chattanooga-Cleveland Pike (now Bonny Oaks Drive) and Lightfoot Mill Road.

Youngstown was annexed into the City of Chattanooga in 1957.

Zion Hill (see Apison)