Raccoon Mountain Caverns and Campground

Last week flew by for me. Although it feels like we have been in Chattanooga a lot longer than a week and a half. This has been a nice place to stay, and I would probably want to come back, but I am excited to be in Asheville, North Carolina. We did have some weather this past week, but we were still able to head out and visit some places. I was thinking about going to the cave here, but we never made it there.

Tuesday, we went to a winery, it was in Central time (Chattanooga is Eastern time) and it was only ten minutes or so away from where we were staying. It was a nice place and had pretty good pizza.

The Tennessee River is behind us.

Wednesday, we went to a distillery and had an awesome tour. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable, and we met great couple and had fun talking with them. Did you know that in 1964 the Government made laws on how bourbon could be distilled? Bourbon must contain at least 51% corn, be aged in a brand-new charred oak barrel for at least two years and can only be made in America.

Before the tour. It was a rainy Wednesday.

Whiskey starts here with grain and water.

Then the fermentation process starts. 

Yeast eats up all the sugar.

Then it goes into the distillery.

Then it is aged in oak barrels.

This is what a charred barrel looks like before the whiskey goes inside.

First it is a clear liquid from the distillery, 

the longer it stays in the barrel the darker it becomes.

This process has been done for many years. The term 'whiskey' derives originally from the Gaelic 'uisge beatha', or 'usquebaugh', meaning 'water of life'. Also known as aqua vitae in Latin. Whiskey was originally used as a medicine, both as an internal anesthetic and an external antibiotic. Distilling techniques were brought to Ireland and Scotland sometime between 1100ad and 1300ad by monks. Since wine was not easily obtained there, barley beer was distilled into a liquor which became whiskey. "Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey is barely enough." Mark Twain. "Keeping it real" I am not that big of fan of whiskey, but I do enjoy learning about different things, including whiskey. 

Thursday, we went to a brewery and had a really great time talking with one of the servers about building and the beer they brewed. The brewery is now named Tailgate Brewery, but in 1910 the Terminal Station opened as a hotel with fancy steam-heated rooms and a cafe for weary travelers. Through the years the beautiful triangle shaped building gathered a rather seedy reputation. Legend holds it was once a speakeasy and even a house of it'll repute. In the 1940s, Chester Davis, a porter at the Terminal Station, saved his tips and bought the building, returning it to a hotel and becoming one of the first black business owners in Chattanooga.

What it is named now.

Where they create the craft beer.

The triangle building. I wanted to go across the street to 

get a better picture, but that didn't happen.

The Terminal Building is next to the Terminal Station. From 1909 to 1970 all trains traveling southward passed through Chattanooga's famous Terminal Station. In 1973 a group of local investors saved the buildings from demolitions by turning it into a hotel complex, now on the National Historic register and listed with Historic Hotels of America. Ironically, it's not the station from the famous Chattanooga Choo Choo song, a mainly passenger station downtown that couldn't be saved. Walking into the lobby is like a trip back in time, with departure signs hanging over original wooden doors with a breathtaking 85-foot freestanding brick dome in the center. The original tracks still run through much of the 24-acre property, on which Victorian train cars turned hotel rooms are parked. A recent multi-million dollar renovation has brought new life to the historic hotel with renovated rooms and grounds, new restaurants, comedy club and live music almost every night. They were redecorating the hotel when we were there, so I couldn’t get a lot of beautiful pictures.

Walking up to the Terminal Station.

Walking on the grounds.

I really liked the decorations above the doors.

Hubby sat in the "Brick Truck" so I could take his picture.

From Raccoon Mountain Campgrounds we can see a tower that lights up at night. I was curious about this huge building and asked one of the camp hosts what it was. It is Covenant College. I had to do some research because it looked like a very old building and the camp host said that the college had only been around for 50 to 60 years. Here is what I found. Filled with history and tragedy, old Carter Hall found redemption when Covenant College moved in. The luxury resort opened in 1928, welcoming wealthy visitors to Lookout Mountain. However, after struggling through the Great Depression and decades of new owners, reopenings, and failed business ventures, the castle's time as a resort ended forever in the early 1960s. This is when Covenant College bought Carter Hall. Covenant College was founded in 1955 and moved from Pasadena, California to St. Louis, Missouri, before making their permanent home on Lookout Mountain.

Covenant College

Fun facts: you get two on this blog post. Chattanooga Bakery was founded in the early 1900s and in 1917, the famous MoonPie was created. Also, The Lookout Mountain Incline Railway is one of the world's steepest passenger railway lines at a 72.7% grade. It was opened in 1895 by the Chattanooga and Lula Lake Railway and functions as a major mode of transportation to the top of the mountain. Powered by two 100-horsepower engines and a pulley system, two cars operating simultaneously pull each other up and down the mountain. The Incline Railway once serviced a luxury hotel atop Lookout Mountain. Service was disrupted twice by fires that destroyed the powerhouse, upper station and cars stored there overnight (the first fire occurring on December 13, 1896, and the second on March 24, 1919). Both fires put the railway temporarily out of service, substitute service being provided by the Chattanooga Railway and Light Company's Lookout Mountain route. The railway was sold in the 1940s to Southern Coach Lines and is now operated by the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority, the area's public transit agency.

Friday, we went out to dinner and did last minute grocery shopping and started to pack up. It is amazing to me that we are in another state, and it is a state that we haven't been to so more information about North Carolina to come.
 
Easter is right around the corner, and we are hoping to go to a church that is actually in South Carolina. The Lord led the Worship Leader from CyLife in Cypress to Rock Hill, South Carolina to lead worship there. Chad is also the pastor who married Tressa and Andrew.  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter 1:3-5 (NASB)

Sunset at Raccoon Mountain Caverns and Campground.

We hope you enjoyed our journey through Chattanooga, Tennessee and we are excited to share North Carolina with you as well. May the Lord shine His face upon you and yours.

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God, the RV & me...