Lookout Mountain offers quite a spectacular bird's-eye view of Chattanooga and the Tennessee River. During the Civil War Period, Lookout Mountain became a military outpost, keeping tabs on Chattanooga, a city considered to be the Gateway to the South. On November 24, 1863, the outpost stood in the way of the Unions southern advancement and General Joseph Hooker led an attack that became known as the Battle Above the Clouds.
   Twenty-five years later battlefield veterans, Ferdinand Van Derveer and Henry Van Ness, stirred interest in preserving the area as a memorial site. A few years later, President Benjamin Harrison signed a bill establishing the first military park in the area. In 1895, a dedication ceremony took place on Snodgrass Hill. It was a moving observance as a great crowd of veterans arrived for the dedication. Today, Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Park includes Point Park at Lookout Mountain. Civilian Conservation Corps camps were instrumental in building a network of trails through the park during the 1930s and some of the park's most interesting highlights are reached using these footpaths.

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