Southeast

Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area

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The park runs along the riverside in 16 different mostly contiguous sections, just north of metro Atlanta. The view above is from an overlook in the East Palisades section, specifically between EP 10 and EP 14 near the Indian Trail entrance. The treacherous whitewater mild shoals in the river above are known as the Devil’s Race Course, not for downstream paddling difficulty, but because it used to be “a devil” to move cargo up the river here.

Parks near urban areas means more people enjoying nature, and even on a chilly autumn day there were plenty of folks out jogging, hiking, biking and dog walking. One young lady appeared to be in deep meditation at the river’s edge, while her dog intently watched some geese on a sand bar in mid stream. It would have been fun to kayak through the park, but I couldn’t figure out a good way to get all my gear back to my car. With limited time to visit other sections, I spent my time on a beautiful long hike along the river and up in the wooded hills.

Crunching through the leaves reminds me of running cross country as a boy during the fall in New England and leaves time to reflect on loss and letting things go. Life is not perpetual youthful summers, and the decay that comes with the passage of time prepares the ground for new life and the next generation. The bittersweet changes of seasons and life should be learned from, embraced and cherished, not denied nor medicated away.

“Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.” 

— Juliet

Little River Canyon National Preserve

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One popular question is itinerary planning, which is essential, although my plans never survive contact with the road. The same trails must be picked up again in different seasons, and inevitably, they retrace the steps of early Americans. The old hunting grounds, early trade routes, forts and battlegrounds often overlap in places like this, and, especially when they’re preserved in a more natural state, it’s easier to imagine those who came this way before us.

After their long history of interacting with the Spanish, French and British in the southeast, five tribes had become accustomed to European ways enough to be called “civilized”: the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, Seminole and Cherokee. But the US government forcibly removed them to Oklahoma anyway. Most crossed the Mississippi near Memphis, as I did. The Cherokee were split into three groups: the old settlers who moved west before the removal, those forced to walk the Trail of Tears, and those who escaped removal and still live east of Great Smoky. Here, at a natural crossing point through the canyon palisades, the couple in the photo above walk on the Trail of Tears, near where Cherokee families were rounded up into a wooden palisade known as Fort Payne.

The park helps preserve that history, although the primary mission is to protect the many species that live in this important nature sanctuary. The canyon is known among rock climbers for the challenging cliffs, and if you hike downstream there’s a swimming hole near Martha’s Falls. The river isn’t runnable by amateurs, so stick to the scenic drive along the rim, admire the views from a half dozen overlooks and try not to miss the peak foliage like I did. The road isn’t wide enough for both bikes and cars, and, as usual, the former lose out. There’s a park film at the friendly visitor center and an Ol’ Tymer’s BBQ nearby.

Time for me to get back on the road. I passed through Muscle Shoals on my way here, but now I have Georgia on my mind. Places like this are bittersweet, when you reflect on the past or consider the future, but that’s what enriches travel. And our choices make a difference too. Supporting Native American businesses, for example, seems the least we should do to recognize past wrongs. And unless we stop our carbon pollution, these small sanctuaries will prove insufficient to preserve diverse species for any who may follow us.

Andrew Johnson National Historic Site

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Somebody has gone to a great deal of effort to rehabilitate disgraced President Andrew Johnson. The hagiographic film is narrated by the late Tennessee Senator (and actor) Fred Thompson. The exhibits extol Johnson’s fidelity to the Constitution against the “radical” views in Congress that African Americans should be granted full citizenship rights. This may be the worst site for informing people about history in the park service.

In fact, Johnson was an inveterate racist, a slave-owner who got a special exemption from Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation to extend slavery in Tennessee. After Lincoln’s demise, Johnson reversed Reconstruction and vetoed the Civil Rights Act, paving the way for a campaign of terror by the KKK (also from Tennessee in 1865) and the collapse of all efforts to let freed slaves participate fully in elections. He was impeached (148-27), but escaped conviction by one vote. Johnson’s presidency was such a threat to the nation that Grant was pressured to run “in order to save the Union again”. A long-time historical favorite of racists, modern historians generally rank Johnson among the worst presidents. Nowhere at this historic site could I find any acknowledgement that it was morally wrong and anti-democratic to deny freed slaves the right to vote.

Johnson was a poorly-educated tailor who had the good fortune to be married by a relative of Abraham Lincoln.

Russell Cave National Monument

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Local archaeologists started digging here under the overhang, but soon the Smithsonian took over, finding evidence of over ten thousand years of continuous use by Native Americans. There’s a particular style of stone spear point found here that old and named after the site. There’s a also a nature trail along the creek that flows from underground, with birds and lush vegetation.

I wonder how our country could have evolved more peacefully, with more respect of different cultures and more generous sharing of technology. If not expelled from this place, perhaps Native American guides could be teaching stories from their oral traditions here and could be conducting their own research, instead of having their culture irrevocably damaged and their societies misunderstood.

Isolation and homogenization slow the progress of new ideas and retard civilization. Many of the towns I drive through appear almost identical, with people wearing the same clothes from the same chain stores and eating at the same restaurants. A few corporations own the most popular national brands. The sameness isn’t strength; it’s weakness. Diversity and integration take more effort, but they pay off in vibrancy, new ideas, and healthier, more resilient communities. We impoverish ourselves by rejecting differences.

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park

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Before I rant again, let me just acknowledge that there’s a dramatically beautiful view on Lookout Mountain. Chattanooga below is in a strategic location at the bend of the river below. Long before the Civil War battles, the last overland battle of the Revolution was fought here. There’s even a steep funicular line to enjoy the view.

Militarily, controlling the high ground has always been the key. Grant used it to capture Chattanooga, and the confederates used it to try to recapture the city, unsuccessfully. Chickamauga nearby in Georgia is much flatter and covered with monuments to both sides. Which brings me to my brief rant. If even a fraction of the money and effort spent on monuments for both sides were used to explain the cause of the war, slavery, then maybe we wouldn’t have some politicians today still trying to claim that there are “very fine people on both sides” of racial prejudice. No. Racism was wrong both then and now, and the longer that we evade the obvious moral judgements here, the harder it will be to remove the poison.

Freedom Riders National Monument

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This is another underfunded Civil Rights site. The mural above is one of the few sights I found to see. As part of a systematic campaign to dismantle segregation, a small group of regular people rode buses between states in the south, where race mixing was not allowed under local laws. Since the federal government regulates interstate commerce and travel, they had jurisdiction. The activists exposed the racism, the NAACP lawyers brought cases to court, and eventually the Supreme Court outlawed segregation. Rosa Parks may have started the bus strikes, but it was the Court that integrated buses legally. The freedom riders were brutalized by the Klan, but their cause eventually won.

This may be the worst transition ever, but RV’s get about the same mileage as buses and some are even bus conversions. At a campsite near here, I was asked whether I was afraid of running out of electricity. We compared ”range anxiety” and realized that even with large fuel tanks, the rigs in the campground have less range than my long range model 3 Tesla’s 350 miles. Once loaded, they simply get such bad mileage that they have to go to gas stations more often than I need to charge.

Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument

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I had forgotten that it was a children’s march on Palm Sunday that was assaulted by dogs and water cannon. Under city ordinance, it was illegal for children of different races to play together. In my view, the longer a system of injustice is allowed to stand, the more deeply engrained it becomes. The Civil Rights Institute does a powerful job of setting the scene, where African Americans worked in the steel mills and mines and lived in the city behind a color line. People like Bull Connor and the mayor grew up believing that segregation was normal, right and beneficial. They didn’t play with African American children as kids, and as adults they attacked them, peacefully assembled, wearing Sunday clothes, in a park, outside the 16th St Baptist Church, singing songs. The children had learned from Dr King not to fear jail when doing no wrong, but the assault against them was brutal, and televised.

At the time, America was shocked and voiced outrage. This week children were slaughtered in yet another episode of gun violence. I wonder if we’re sufficiently outraged to change the system as those kids in Birmingham did.

“A man dies when he doesn’t stand up for injustice.”

Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma

Horseshoe Bend National Military Park

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If I were to choose one turning point in American history, I would choose what happened here in March of 1814. After many consecutive treaties with the Creek were broken and great parts of their land were taken, some Creek warriors tried to defend their nation, which had survived contact with the Spanish, French & British. Andrew Jackson invaded the heart of the Creek Nation, surrounded 1000 warriors armed with 300 guns with 3000 soldiers in the bend of the river here. 800 of the Creek warriors were killed, 300 while trying to swim to safety. The village was burned and the women and children with them were captured. By any fair accounting, a ten to one advantage that results in 80% killed is a slaughter, and shooting swimmers is particularly cruel.

But Jackson used the victory to steal more land for white settlers, so he was treated as a hero, instead of a liar, thief and atrocious killer. Jackson even betrayed the Creeks who fought side by side with him in battle, taking their land too. Jackson would go on to become the only President to openly defy the Supreme Court, by not only refusing to return land but by forcibly removing Native Americans to reservations in the west, along the Trail of Tears. A popular President among whites who could vote, he perpetuated racist stereotypes about Native American “savages”, which continued past the Civil War when 750,000 mostly white Americans slaughtered each other over the right keep slaves.

Most Americans won’t admit it, but our ancestors wanted our government to slaughter Native Americans and take their land for our benefit. Racism has been used as official policy for killing, removing, and exploiting non-whites for centuries. By ignoring, denying and lying about this fact, many of us have chosen to live our lives without a moral compass. The first step is to admit the truth, then figure out what to do about it, and finally to teach our kids to be better.

Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site

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[Updated after 3rd visit, including Oaks tour and Carver Museum.] I admit I was frustrated the first two times I drove here from California, unable to access either Booker T. Washington’s house or George Washington Carver’s Museum and finding incorrect information on the website and app. And I might have ranted about how other sites appear to be better funded. But all is now forgiven.

Like many emancipated slaves, Booker had no surname. When he showed up at school, he just said his last name was Washington. After walking across much of Virginia to go to school near Hampton Roads, he became a teacher at Hampton University, before being hired to run the Tuskegee Institute, now University. Ever hard-working, practical and focused on improvement, his students developed many valuable skills to support their families, including brick making. His students built his impressive mansion, The Oaks, across the street from Tuskegee University, using the design by our nation’s first African American architect, Robert Taylor, who trained at MIT as its first black student. Booker T., ever persuasive, recruited Taylor, who designed many buildings that are now part of both this national historic site and the university.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance Booker T. Washington had in advancing the lives of people who for centuries were not allowed to learn how to read. An advisor to US Presidents, world traveling speaker, practical educator, builder, mentor, and author, his practical focus drew criticism from WEB Du Bois and Frederick Douglass, who focused on ‘higher achievements’, but ultimately, they all worked towards the same goal of progress. All continue to inspire generations to learn, grow and excel. Inside the house on tour, I learned about Booker T’s wives, who also contributed to education. By necessity, black women have often had to assume a role as matriarch, when it was difficult or even impossible to keep families together.

Booker T. Washington also hired George Washington Carver to teach and help improve the lives of African Americans, and the Carver’s museum on campus (see photo below) reveals his broad scientific interests beyond the peanut. Carver was an ecologist, who focused on profitable uses for peanuts in order to improve soil health, a forward-looking view that has only become more important over time. But following Washington’s practical focus, Carver spent much of his time in direct outreach to rural communities, bringing solutions and advice out in wagons.

I’m sure Washington could not have imagined that his institute would have been used by the US government to run a 40 year ”experiment” on black men, neither treating nor disclosing their diagnosis of syphilis. (See ”Miss Evers’ Boys” also set in Tuskegee & starring Laurence Fishburne). He might be pleased to know that there’s a private museum on campus dedicated to teaching the history of that infamous experiment as well as the genetic legacy of Henrietta Lacks. But doubtless Washington would have been out fundraising to develop the broader community of Tuskegee, which shows signs of economic neglect.

Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site

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[Updated after touring the hangars.] Like at Tuskegee Institute, I admit to being frustrated by not being able to tour inside earlier and ranting about unequal funding. But all is forgiven now.

The P-51 Mustang above, known as Duchess Arlene, is just one of the planes on display, along with training planes. The first Tuskegee Airmen fighter group sent to North Africa was the 99th, which proved itself with a record-breaking number of air combat kills in short order. Later, additional units were combined into the 332nd Fighter Group, the famed Red Tails that protected the Flying Fortress bombers to help win the war in Europe. I recommend watching the Tuskegee Airmen movie, starring Laurence Fishburne, to learn more. (For the record, although Fishburne also starred in Miss Evers Boys, none of the Tuskegee airmen were involved in the Tuskegee experiment.)

The park film and exhibits also tell another important story about the Tuskegee Airmen: the Double V. Victory was needed both abroad against Hitler and at home against discrimination. When the decorated pilots and experienced mechanics returned after the war, they were not allowed jobs at US airline companies, despite their proven qualifications, nor were they allowed to vote in many states. Even during the war, a group of over 100 airmen were denied admission to an officer’s club on the basis of their race in direct contradiction with US military regulations against segregated facilities. They refused a direct order to sign away their rights, which, during wartime, potentially risked their execution. The Black Press, a group of newspapers and newsletters that closely followed the Tuskegee Airmen, broke the story of the Tuskegee officers being held prisoner and given less rights than Nazi prisoners of war at the same base. The Freeman Field ‘Mutiny’ became a national scandal, and the commanding officer was eventually removed and the officers freed. Truman eventually ordered complete desegregation of the military. We owe a great debt to these brave men, who fought for our country, despite the discrimination they faced.