Leaving Decatur we continue the journey to Chattanooga, TN. Along this journey the Tennessee River has more turns and hairpin zigzags we have nicknamed this the “drunk river”. The river runs the path between the Cumberland Mountain Range and the Smoky Mountains further to the east. We have planned this trip to coincide with the colour changing trees on the high ridges of the Cumberland Mountains. We planned it perfectly. The colours of the mountains present their oranges, yellows and reds in full glory. There has been no wind to speak of so most of the leaves are hanging on waiting for the last breath of autumn.
The daily temperatures are hovering around 55 degrees (10C) for the most part. We have spells of high temps but they are short lived. We’ve doubled up the night blankets so we don’t run the generator all night as those temps fall into the 40’s or about 6C. Being at anchor for 3 nights, enjoying the solitude of nature, looking at the stars and the moon with no light pollution to distract the vastness of the sky, makes us take in all that an anchorage brings. We are able to see Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto on these nights. The moon is a crescent so little light penetrates through the sky making it easier to see the planets. We wake to bald eagles calling, while night presents crickets and ducks getting their last meal for the night. The fishers are out trying to catch bass until nightfall. Then it is just us and nature. This is what we love the most about boating. You can be a few miles from a large city yet be the only ones around just descending into the abyss of nightfall.
The current has been stronger than we anticipated. This part of the Tenn River is fairly narrow creating a current of up to 2.5 knts. We will be going against the current all the way to our destination. It does fluctuate to less than 1 knt however that is not the norm. At least the water level is at a normal level. We have seen accurate readings witht he chart and depth gauge. That is a comfort for a change. Cottages and homes are close to the water’s edge which is another indicator of not much flood occurances. There must not be much flooding along here so they don’t have to lower to winter levels. Winter here is a sprinkling of snow. When it snows it shuts down the city. It lasts for maybe 24 hours and it is gone. There is no salters, sanders, or plows so driving in snow or ice is not advisable for the locals.
We will pass through 2 more locks. Guntersville Lock and Dam and Nickajack Lock and Dam.
Guntersville Lock and Dam
The Guntersville Lock was constructed near the site of the Cherokee village of Tali. In 1785, John Gunter, a Welshman, moved here from North Carolina to trade with the natives. He took a Cherokee wife and collected a large fortune.
Gunter began operating a ferry across the Tennessee River in 1820, leading the area to be known as Gunter’s Landing. Andrew Jackson once camped at Gunter’s Landing while fighting the Creek Indians. He persuaded Dick Brown and Edward Gunter to recruit a group of Cherokee to aid him. The resulting action served as the prelude to the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, where Jackson handed a final defeat to the Creek Nation. Later, Jackson also built a wagon road to the area so he could transport supplies to Southern battles. This later became known as the Jackson Trail and was the main travel artery to the southern region for more than a century.
In 1835, just a year before his death, John Gunter built the area’s first painted house.
Gunter’s Landing’s first educational facility was a Presbyterian mission school. It was located on the old Creek Path used by the tribe to reach their hunting grounds. Dick and Catherine Brown, half Cherokee, served as teachers at the school, and Dick even served as an interpreter for Sequoia, the developer of the Cherokee alphabet.
Louis Wyeth came to Guntersville, Alabama from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1837. He made Guntersville the county seat and in 1847 had the town incorporated by the state legislature. It’s location on the river made Guntersville a focal point during the Civil War. Federal shelling partially burned the town, and troops on both sides passed through the city.
When the war was over, Guntersville was rebuilt, and it began growing. The railroad came to the town in 1892. The availability of both water and rail transport ensured commercial development could thrive.
Nickajack Lock and Dam
The name Nickajack is generally thought to come from a free African American man who was taken prisoner by a band of renegade Indians. The band was a mix of Cherokee and Creek warriors, white fugitives, and some African Americans. The band collectively took the name Chickamauga. They settled in an area called the Five Lower Towns below present-day Chattanooga.
One African American named Jack Civil became a leader of the band, and one of the towns was given the name Nick-a-Jack. Like other Chickamauga towns, Nick-a-Jack was located along a narrow and perilous stretch of the Tennessee River. The river contained hazardous places with names like the Suck and the Whirl. The towns were also protected by Lookout and Sand mountains.
Their strategic location allowed the Chickamauga band to pillage and murder parties of frontiersmen and settlers as they headed west. A secret cave called Tecallassee (now called Nickajack Cave) was both a hiding place and a storage area for the band.
The natural hazards as well as the fierce Chickamauga prevented migration through the basin until 1794. General James Robertson of Nashville sent an expedition that year to destroy the Five Lower Towns. Ironically, the guide to Tecallassee was a young man named Joseph Brown. Brown had been orphaned by the Chickamauga and reared in the tribe until he was ransomed.
Tecallassee also played a role in the Civil War. More than 100 men mined saltpeter there as a source of the nitrate needed for gunpowder.
