It promises to be a fun summer for your kids because Commons Camp opens on June 1 and runs through July 17. For those of you who are unaware, the mountain’s iconic camp at the town pavilion next to our community playground has been a tradition since the 1940s. It is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. five days a week, and our days start with ping pong, tennis or playground activities. Your children can decide what they want to do. We have lunch around 11:15 a.m., and after that we will have a child’s movie on our TV for those who want to relax a while. There is always a baseball game, a pickle ball game, a board game or crafts, or other fun stuff. We normally turn off the TV by noon to encourage the children to run around and play.
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Speaking of lunch, campers can bring their own or buy burgers, hot dogs or nachos from the Munchery at the Commons on Mondays and Wednesday, and choose pizza on Tuesday, Thursdays, and Fridays, which we provide at $1 a slice. A Coke machine, water fountain, fridge and microwave are available to the campers, as well.

Director and head of our parks and recreation, Coach Scott Shell, and I are thrilled to have veteran counselor Tommy Moses along with Daniel Horne as our male counselors. We are actively looking for a girl counselor who would like a rewarding summer job.

I have been working at Commons Camp for over 30 years, and despite the heat, I truly love getting to know your children. Some of the things that they say are hilarious! I have heard parents comment through the years that they have given their kids a choice of any camp, and many choose the Commons.

Last year our numbers kept growing and growing, with our maximum number of children around 75. Since it is a drop-in camp, we never know from day-to-day how many will be there, but the more the merrier!

You can register your child or children on the day that you bring them. The cost is $325 for the entire summer session, $75 a week, or $25 a day. For those families with more than one child, we will make adjustments to the prices.

I want to assure you that your children will be watched at all times, and the counselors are always in different areas of the playground property.

It’s going to be another great summer!

by Gwin Tugman

We began hiking in the early afternoon, the St. Elmo trail leading us into the quiet woods, past old oaks, pine groves and early spring flowers and butterflies, northbound from a winter spent far away.

Look west: the streets of St. Elmo, with Lookout Mountain rising in the background. Turn east: views through the winter trees of Missionary Ridge, Forest Hills Cemetery, Alton Park and Missionary Ridge in the distance.
And to the north? Downtown, the Tennessee River, Walden’s Ridge and beyond.

The trail wanders, meanders and strolls its way through a woodland forest, dozens of untouched acres in the heart of St. Elmo, adjacent to so many South Chattanooga homes and businesses. The forest trail offers what all good trails do: an escape, refuge and retreat from the congestion, inboxes and headaches of daily life.

Welcome to Hawkins Ridge.

And welcome to our chance to preserve it forever.

In a monumental real estate agreement that will impact St. Elmo and Lookout Mountain for generations, the Lookout Mountain Conservancy (LMC) has signed a contract to purchase 22 acres along Hawkins Ridge in St. Elmo.

The 22-acre forest will be conserved and remain undeveloped, allowing LMC - a nationally-accredited land trust celebrating 35 years - to protect and preserve Hawkins Ridge as natural woodlands and untouched forest.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to preserve land that will last for generations,” said Dr. Robyn Carlton, LMC’s president and CEO.

We need your help.

Join our Hawkins Ridge, Always campaign, which we launched for three big reasons:

1. First and foremost, we want to save this last remaining forest in South Chattanooga. It’s one of the most desirable pieces of undeveloped land remaining in Chattanooga. If we don’t save it, who will?
2. Second, we need to build fundraising support among old friends and new. We’re on the clock, needing to raise $875,000.
3. And third? We want to offer our community something precious and rare.

“We want to preserve and protect the wild and special places,” said Robyn.

LMC plans to actively maintain the land, stewarding a trail system that runs south-to-north through Hawkins Ridge, which parallels Tennessee Avenue in St. Elmo. Sharing a northern border with Forest Hills Cemetery, the property - made up of 15 contiguous parcels - skirts the base of Seneca Avenue as the ridge rises in elevation to offer stunning views.

“This is a generational moment. This is the core of why we exist as a land trust,” said Carlton. “And we’re going to need the help of our friends and neighbors over the next few months.”

Every so often, a community has the chance to make a difference that will last generations.
If we don’t, who will?

It’s the same question asked 35 years ago this spring, when John Wilson gathered a group of concerned mountain residents in his living room, soon forming the Lookout Mountain Protection Agency.

“The historic Cummings Highway was getting ugly. And it had no protectors,” he later wrote. “Though hundreds of people drove the winding road every day, there was no one group looking out for its interests.”
Today, we want to be the protectors of Hawkins Ridge.

We gladly invite you to join our Hawkins Ridge, Always campaign by visiting lookoutmountainconservancy.org or using the QR Code.

by David Cook

On Saturday, March 21, Lookout Mountain Conservancy hosts its seventh-annual Boulderfest: a three-hour enduro-style climbing competition for pros, amateurs and beginners. 
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Visit lookoutmountainconservancy.org to resister, or use the QR code at right. Boulderfest is held at Rockmont Park on Old Wauhatchie Pike in St. Elmo. Several years ago, interns from The Howard School uncovered 27 boulders - really big boulders - from decades of kudzu. Then, they built a true bouldering park: crashpads, articulated climbing routes, a trail system and maps linking the boulders and nearly 100s of problems, or routes, together.

It’s a really special place.

Maybe we don’t even realize how special.

Our LMC Bouldering Park is one of the largest urban natural bouldering parks in the U.S. 

But just how large is large? 

Are we actually the biggest urban natural bouldering park in the South?

Or the nation?

We went looking for the answer. 

More than 200 bouldering gyms exist in the U.S., according to Climbing Business Journal.
 
Some, like Vital Climbing Gym in Brooklyn, are large and urban, but not natural. Their boulders weren’t leftover from the Ice Age, but are human-made, designed and artificially created. 

Others, like San Fran’s Dogpatch Boulders, are enormously large and urban - covering 20,000 square feet - in the heart of the city. But, it’s not outdoors. It’s indoors. 

Our boulders? Natural like a birthday suit. These boulders have been here since the dawn of time, situated and resting exactly where God, and geological time, placed them.  

Our bouldering park is large. Fifty acres, 27 boulders. All outside in the freshest air. 

The boulders in Buttermilk, California, are a world-class, top-notch climbing destination. But, getting there can be rough, with four-wheel drive often needed.

For LMC’s boulders? You can walk, hike, skip, Uber, drive or run there. Take a moped. Unicycle from Goodman’s. Publix, St. Elmo, the Riverwalk - they’re all outside our door. 

We’re definitely urban. 

But, are we the largest? 

Minutes north of Washington, DC, the Northwest Branch boasts more than 200 bouldering problems. Urban? Mostly. Natural? Yep. Large? Heck, yes. To borrow from MC Hammer: we can’t touch that.

Across the country, in LA, the famous Stoney Point also holds more than 200 routes. Urban? Big? Natural? Yes, yes and yes. 

So, maybe we aren’t the largest urban natural bouldering park in the U.S. 

But definitely in the South. 

Regardless, we are 100% certain of this: 

Here in your backyard, Chattanooga, there’s a bouldering park among the nation’s very best.

It’s urban. It’s natural. It’s free. These are private lands stewarded for public use. All the year-round work we do? It’s for you. (See an intern from The Howard School? Say hi. Thank them.) This spring, come visit us and climb. We have a new parking lot and plenty of trail access.  

We may not be the largest, but we’re close.

Even better than that? 

We’re yours. 

David Cook is the Director of Communications and Storytelling for Lookout Mountain Conservancy. ​

Eston Henson was so much more than our local plumber. He was our friend. When I heard of Eston’s passing, my heart broke. I truly loved this sweet kind man.
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When my editors asked me to write this tribute, I was honored but wasn’t sure I could do his memory justice, nor could I do it without sobbing.

I met Eston in the early '80s when he worked for Mr. Pinion, the mountain’s former plumber. My husband, John, was out of town, and all the pipes in my house had frozen. I had two small children, and temperatures were below zero degrees outdoors. So many folks were in the same situation, so I didn’t’ really expect Mr. Pinion and his protégé Eston Henson to come, but they showed up late in the afternoon to save the day, wrapping my pipes in the freezing cold. I called John while they were here and told him I kissed both of them. He just laughed while Mr. Pinion and Eston blushed.

I even had the privilege of writing about he and Brenda’s wedding, when they both dressed up as Bonnie and Clyde, carried machine guns, and drove a vintage car- it was a hoot.

Eston learned from the best, moving on to help install the new sewer line and work for the late Jimmy Hedges’ log home community. Before too long, Eston became our residential plumber, always dependable, knowledgeable, and fair.

When I worked at The Mountain Fountain in the mid '90s, before it became Massey’s Kitchen, Eston was a regular. I started greeting him with, “Hello, handsome,” and it was our inside joke. I never called him anything but that. “I am here for a meal and a deal,” he always said. Owner Rhetta Yates gave him a discount.

Wherever Eston was, folks would come in and slap him on the back or shake his hand, always greeting their old friend.

As the years passed, his lunch “office” changed to the Handy Andy/Mapco, and the same thing happened there. He greeted friends and customers as he hung out at the ice cream cooler along with his sidekick Donnie Gibson. Eston had many partners during his career, but Donnie was a perfect fit. He, too, is a good guy, and Eston was more than a partner to him; he was like a father.

In the summer, many of us were lucky recipients of the homegrown tomatoes he was so proud of. Eston had an extensive garden that included over a 100 tomato plants, and it was his joy to share his bounty.

Eston was known for his unexpected kindnesses. He would take flowers to someone who was sick or just to make someone feel good. He would show up at your door for no other reason but to say hi. I remember vividly about three months after John died, I heard a knock on my door and Eston was there. Puzzled, I opened the door, said “Hello Handsome,” and was engulfed with a big hug because, “Darling, I thought you could use one today.” And then he left.

While Eston was sick and after he died, the responses on Facebook were overwhelming. People posted about him, calling him “a giant of a man,” “a wonderful man,” “a sweet loving man,” “a good person,” and more, all in the same vein. Mariah Spengler wrote, “He was so woven into the Lookout community as all of the comments are a testament to the amazing person he was and the impact he had on the community. You do not find that everywhere. We were blessed.” Daphne Haddad said, “I had a leaking toilet. He came and replaced the tank innards, and when I asked how much I owed him, he said, ‘Nothing. We try to do one free repair a week for people.’ There are not many people like him left in the world. God bless him!” Wendy and Ed Taliaferro said, “Eston’s best trait was his honesty. We all trusted him to come in our houses whether we were home or not.” He was one of a kind.

Eston was a true angel. I asked him a few years ago what his gift was. He responded, “I can fix your plumbing, but if I leave your house happier and make you feel better and smile, then I did a good job.”

Oh, Eston, my Handsome, you did so much more than that, you touched our hearts and became like family. We will miss you so, but you left this world a better place by being you! What a legacy you leave, truly a life well-lived.

by Gwin Tugman ​

Everyone knows Lula Lake Land Trust is famous for its namesake lake and the majestic waterfall where the public can hike on select open dates. However, there is a lot going on behind the scenes. Lula Lake partners with many universities and researchers in a quest to learn more about our lands and the best methods of conservation. Two of those partners, naturalist Alan Cressler from Atlanta and Professor Kirk Zigler from the University of the South, helped identify something exciting at Lula Lake!
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Their recent discovery of a new spider species adds to the fascinating group of Nesticus spiders. Roughly 30 species have been documented across the southern Appalachian region, a landscape well known for its rich biological diversity and extensive cave systems. These spiders exhibit a remarkable range of adaptations: Some live on the surface and retain the full complement of eight functional eyes, while others have evolved to spend their entire lives underground, losing their eyesight over generations as they adapt to perpetual darkness.

Named Nesticus lula in honor of Lula Lake, this new species was discovered by Cressler in a cave on the property of the Lula Lake Land Trust, and it has been formally identified with Zigler. At present, the species is known from only two locations - its original discovery site within Lula Lake and a second cave situated just a few miles away. In keeping with its cave-restricted lifestyle, Nesticus lula possesses only six eyes, a reduction from the eight typically found in surface-dwelling spiders. This reduced eye count is a common evolutionary response among organisms that inhabit lightless environments, where eyesight offers little benefit.

Several other members of the genus also inhabit caves in the broader region. Nesticus georgia is found in multiple caves in Lookout Valley, including the well-known Sitton’s Cave in Cloudland Canyon State Park. Nesticus furtivus occupies two caves on Raccoon Mountain, among them the popular Raccoon Mountain Caverns. Another species, Nesticus cressleri, occurs in several caves on Pigeon Mountain. Together, these species highlight the high degree of specialization and endemism characteristic of Appalachian cave ecosystems.

Because cave-adapted spiders often have extremely limited distributions - sometimes confined to one or only a handful of caves - they tend to be highly vulnerable to environmental disturbance. Their restricted range, slow population growth, and sensitivity to changes in humidity, temperature, or human activity make them important indicators of the overall health of subterranean habitats. For Nesticus lula, the fact that one of its two known populations exists on land managed specifically for conservation and biodiversity is especially encouraging. The stewardship efforts of Lula Lake Land Trust play a critical role in safeguarding delicate cave environments, increasing the likelihood that this exceedingly rare species will persist far into the future.

by Lula Lake Staff ​

I admire the beautiful trees on Lookout Mountain and love the diversity that I have in my yard.   The variety of plants reflects the native community in our region including trees, shrubs, and flowers that are part of our natural landscape.  We have many mature trees on the mountain including an American Elm in my yard that is over 120 years old.
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One of my favorite trees is a northern white oak (quercus alba) that sits off a parking lot for Good Shepherd Episcopal Church near the corner of Scenic Highway and Franklin Road on Lookout Mountain.  This tree is quite tall with a wide spread; it has done quite well since the parking lot was created in the mid 1950s.  Given the size of this tree, I wondered its age as well as what has happened since it sprouted from an acorn.  I searched the Internet to see how to determine a tree’s age and saw that you measure the circumference of the tree at chest height (about 4 ½ feet) then divide by Pi (3.1416).  This gives you the diameter of the tree. In order to determine the tree’s age, you then multiply the diameter by its  growth rate.  White oaks have a growth rate of five.

On a beautiful clear Sunday a few weeks ago, I took my father’s flexible cloth measuring tape along to the white oak in the parking lot.   I determined the appropriate height to measure, tacked the tape to the tree and measured a circumference of 146 inches (12.17 feet).  I divided the circumference in inches by pi and then multiplied by a white oak growth rate of 5.  This tree in the parking lot is approximately 232 years old.  A method that is more precise is to take a core sample of the tree which would reveal the annual growth rings of the tree.  So, this very large tree germinated in roughly 1793 from an acorn.

Imagine what has happened on Lookout Mountain since the 1790s long before roads were built or rail lines linked the area at the foot of the mountain.  For sure we had extensive wildlife, forests, birds and more.  This tree has provided essential food and cover for wildlife, insects and birds.      

This tree had grown tall by the time of the Civil War and could have sheltered encampments of soldiers and support troops beneath its spread.  Early United States geologic maps will show our area and its development over the years.  Historical maps of Lookout Mountain will also reveal the development of trails and roads along with early structures.

After noting the age of this tree to friends on the mountain, one noted that an older white oak was no more than 150 feet away.  I walked over to this tree, measured it and found that it was over 16 feet in circumference with an age of over 300 years.  I doubt that either of these trees are records for Tennessee, but they are quite glorious and a precious acknowledgment of nature in our area.

I am sure that there are many mature trees on Lookout Mountain that have survived storms as well as development of the years.  If you would like assistance in determining the age of a tree in your yard, help can be provided.  Mature trees such as the white oaks off Franklin Road are rare and there may be more to acknowledge and celebrate.  A walk on the many trails on Lookout Mountain as well as Point Park could point out many other mature trees.  Send a note if you would like assistance in determining the age of a tree in your yard.

by John Pine

The newly-opened bed and breakfast on Lula Lake Road, the Lookout Mountain Inn, hosted a grand opening/neighborhood garden party for the community, and it was great! The former Garden Walk was purchased by Frank and Nicole May, who own Timberroot Rustic Retreats, which boasts retreats from Utah to eastern Tennessee. The couple’s mission is “to create, curate, and operate unique short-term rental clusters near popular natural attractions like national parks and other attractions. Designed to compliment the surrounding environment organically, these rustic retreats immerse guests in nature, allowing them to relax, recharge and find meaningful connections through the creation of shared memories. There are five of these retreats in and around Chattanooga, including the Riverview Inn below Ruby Falls.
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The Lookout Mountain Inn has been a lodging establishment since I was a little girl, and it now looks so different from when it was a motor court and a motel. At the open house, several cottages were available to tour, as well as a suite at the back of the property. The suites have access to a fire pit and comfortable outdoor chairs, and the rooms are spacious and modern, yet cozy. You might even say quaint about a few, and even the word whimsical comes to mind. The cottages in the front of the property are nestled in the woods, and they are fabulous. Each has a bedroom, sitting area, kitchen and hot tub or jacuzzi, and some have a private patio.

The evening for the garden party was perfect, and Massey’s Kitchen provided the appetizers and libations. A singer added to the ambiance as guests strolled around. The grounds are beautiful with landscaping galore, and the “office” is more like a restaurant with tables and chairs inside and out.

Jamie Halks, the in-house inn keeper, prepares the wonderful breakfast that is offered daily for the guests. Kenny Lee, the Lookout Mountain, Ga., town manager, was fortunate to be invited for breakfast and said it was absolutely delicious, featuring yummy casseroles and decadent pastries.

The Mays have done an outstanding job with the remodel and the grounds, and Jamie is as personable as she is capable in the kitchen.

What a wonderful option for tourists, out-of-town guests, wedding parties, or even our residents who might be having work done on their home … or just want to be pampered! I recommend that you all to stop by sometime and see how beautiful and charming it is. Described as “a vintage-style bed and breakfast with quaint cottages, private suites, garden paths, hot tubs, and a seasonal pool,” believe me when I say it is truly so much more.

by Gwin Tugman