The 750-acre
Moccasin Bend National Archeological District is located across
the Tennessee River from downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee. It is
a unit of Chickamauga and Chattanooga
National Military Park (CHCH).
It is a significant archeological site because the
Native American presence can be traced back over 10,000 years. The
site contains valuable cultural resources of Native American and Civil
War origin (and more), and is one of the most significant archeological
sites in the southeast. The Trail of Tears crossed Moccasin Bend
in 1838. Perhaps the most significant features are the two Native
American village sites at Hampton Place. The combination of
history at the site and the site’s location near downtown Chattanooga
provides a great opportunity to attract large numbers of people to the
area.
Significant
riverbank erosion is occurring along the approximately 5.8 miles of
riverfront along the Tennessee River. It has been estimated that
that ten to fifteen feet of riverbank has eroded into the river over the
past twenty years.
Due to the very
great concentration of archeological resources in this area, significant
cultural resources (including possible burial sites) are being lost to
riverbank erosion.
Moccasin Bend is a first of its kind because it
was added to an existing park (CHCH) as a sub-unit. Its status
will ensure that the archeological and culturally significant sites on
the peninsula remain so that the National Park Service (NPS) can tell
the site’s story to future generations.
The U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, Nashville District (Corps) (for the U.S. Department
of the Army) and the National Park Service (for the U.S. Department of
Interior) entered into an Interagency Agreement that governs the
planning and design for the project.
Nashville
District, Corps of Engineers is performing the work for the NPS.
The purpose of the project is to stabilize the right descending
riverbank of Moccasin Bend on the Tennessee River in order to protect
the cultural resources and prevent additional losses of these
assets to the river via erosion and slope failure. Of the approximately
5.8 miles, there are about 1.2 miles of bank along the southern end of
the peninsula that already have riprap. The Corps will stabilize
the 4.6 miles on the east and west sides and “dress up” the 1.2 miles as
needed.
The Corps is
providing planning and design services, field investigations,
development of alternative designs, final design and preparation of
contract plans and specifications for riverbank and cultural resources
protection measures, including National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
compliance and related coordination, and consultation with the State
Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and Tribal Historic Preservation
Office (THPO). The Corps has received $494K for execution of this
work.
It is likely that first reach to be protected
extends from the downstream end of the existing riprap to at least as
far as the downstream limit of Hampton Place.
