John Shearer: Exploring And Searching For Greenways, Part 26 – East Lake Park And Hidden Caruthers Park

Have you ever been to Caruthers Park? Have you even heard of Caruthers Park?

Despite being a city of Chattanooga park, it is one of those small neighborhood green spaces that is hidden away in a more modest and diverse area of town far away from the major parks and greenway paths that get a lot of attention and use.

Until recently, I had not heard of it, but Caruthers Park is located in the Clifton Hills area of Chattanooga just to the right off Rossville Boulevard not long after one exits the Interstate and heads toward Rossville or the Chickamauga Battlefield national park.

I had visited it Friday after initially thinking about having a totally different Hamilton County greenway experience by going to one of the mountainside trails like the one by North Chickamauga Creek in Soddy-Daisy.

But since it was a nice day, and I figured some snakes and ticks might be starting to come out on the trail, I opted for a definitely more urban park experience.

But that is what is interesting about parks and green spaces within Chattanooga or Hamilton County. They might all feature trees and grass, but the environment around them is quite different.

The area around Caruthers Park was comprised mostly of older and modest homes of varying condition, although a number of bungalows that in North Chattanooga would draw top dollar could also be spotted.

I had left my Northgate Mall area home a little after lunch, and after going through Red Bank and down U.S. 27 and across the Olgiati Bridge, where much of the freeway work has now been completed, I exited at Rossville Boulevard.

After looking at a map online before leaving, I turned right at East 37th Street and then right on Brannon Avenue. A crew was there working, so I had to circle back via various other streets and enter from the north. 

However, I was able to eventually pull into the small parking lot of the park. There by it was one of those wooden city of Chattanooga signs with the park’s name. I have seen those at more and more places, so they must have just started putting them up a year or so ago about when I started this series. They are neat and unique. And hats off to the designer!

I also think it would be fun to have a scavenger hunt where someone has to take a selfie photo of himself or herself in front of each of those dozens of signs within the city park system.

Caruthers Park – the origin or naming of which I am unaware — looked like a nice small park maybe 100 yards by 150 yards. But in contrast to many parks or ball field/playground sites, this one had quite a number of old hardwood trees covering half the land.

Unfortunately, on the day I was there, the wooded area was underwater due to the recent heavy rains, and that might have been why a crew was on Brannon Avenue. They might have been pumping water out or figuring out why it was not draining better.

As a result, my experience was more Sea World than Backyard Safari. I understand maybe a walking path exists through the wooded area, but I did not see it. And a picnic table that was spotted could only be enjoyed on this day by some fish, as it was also underwater.

But I could tell this was a neat little park and that it seemed to be a hidden gem. It also had a playground with swings, a big open field with some soccer goals, and in one corner a Bridge City Community church building made of metal siding.

The Bridge City website says it is a multi-ethnic Christian community focused on various forms of justice, perhaps a reference to the diversity in the community. On the day I was there, no one was at the building, although one man was walking around the grass at the park with two small children.

I waved at him coming and going while walking around and taking pictures.

As one who tests a park space for how it might be for someone like me, who enjoys jogging on grass, this seems like a nice little park and a place where I would enjoy jogging several times a week if I lived less than a mile away.  

It is especially nice to have this small pocket-like park a few yards away from noisy and busy Rossville Boulevard, which, except for a couple of churches, is also very uninspiring visually. Some not overly appealing industrial properties are also near the park.

After visiting there, I then got back on Rossville Boulevard – which I could not avoid – and went down East 37th Street in the other direction. My second stop was to examine the East Lake Recreation Center by Dodds Avenue.

Two male workers had been there in separate cars, but they pulled out and locked the small gate along East 37th Street. So, I decided to simply examine it from the street, and I took a few pictures.

Kind of like the East Chattanooga Recreation Center, another center in a more modest area of town in terms of median income, this facility had plenty of fields and green space, which are always a luxury anywhere. Although it has a few trees on the edges, it is overall not quite as nice looking as the East Chattanooga one. Perhaps a little better landscaping, with more trees and picnic tables, might be in order, even though its athletic fields and its indoor facility comprise its primary uses.

Another similarity to the center at East Chattanooga, and a topic I have written about before, is that the older part of the recreation complex features a slightly Tudor-style, pre-World War II building very similar to the East Chattanooga one.

Let’s hope any future changes preserve that neat and historic building. 

While Caruthers Park and the nearby East Lake Recreation Center are nice aesthetic assets in a part of town that currently appears to be home to those of more modest means, neither one of the places would likely inspire a famous landscape architect like Frederick Law Olmsted.

However, my final stop of the day – East Lake Park – would. Or at least it would be enjoyable for someone just looking for some aesthetically pleasing park space for relaxation.

I had actually been to East Lake Park just a little over a year ago when it was reopened in a nice ceremony attended by several dozen people to celebrate its restoration and enhancements shortly before the pandemic hit Chattanooga.

So, I knew the nice treat I was going to get on Friday. But I also imagined how inspired I would have been seeing East Lake Park for the first time after visiting the other two places. I would have felt like I had come home.   

While East Lake overall is still a modest and diverse neighborhood, it has some loyal residents and great houses near the park. And that park is as big a draw as a fast-talking real estate salesman would be to bring people to live in the neighborhood.

This park dating to the late 1800s when East Lake was a planned community features as its signature attraction its large pond. Unfortunately, it appeared to be getting a little algae, that constant harasser of city park lakes.

The handsome grounds also include a unique playground, plenty of old trees and grass, a nicely laid out stream, an undulating layout, and some stone reminders of the old days. Pavilion buildings and picnic shelters from different time periods are also nice, as are the stone entrance wall and, yes, a couple of wooden “East Lake Park” signs put up by the city.

It is quite idyllic, with the newer East Lake Elementary sitting across East 36th Street where the old East Lake Junior High building that I remember from my youth once sat. On the afternoon I was there, dozens of cars were lined up with parents picking up their children. 

On the opposite side of the school is some old ball field space that perhaps could be made to look nicer and have as a place for the community to enjoy using on the weekends for more vigorous exercising than might be ideal for East Lake Park.

My neatest moment at East Lake Park Friday, however, was watching people sitting still. As I walked around briefly and took some pictures among the small crowd of visitors, I spotted a white man and a black man enjoying an obviously amicable conversation on chairs they brought.

In light of all the apparent racial animosity following the George Floyd incident of last summer and into the presidential election season, I found that as refreshing and soothing as the sight of water coming up from one of the circulation fountains in the lake at the park.  

* * * * *

To read the previous story in this series, click here.

https://www.chattanoogan.com/2021/3/9/424488/John-Shearer-Exploring-And-Searching.aspx

* * * * *

Jcshearer2@comcast.net