12,000 Years, 23 Tribes 

The proposal to rebuild on the current hospital campus revokes prior public commitments to move off the Bend at the earliest opportunity; furthermore, despite the significance of this generational land use decision, State officials failed to engage the 23 federally-recognized Native American Tribal Nations associated with Moccasin Bend, the National Park Service, and the Tennessee residents who own this public land. The so-called “compromise” of building on a smaller footprint of the same campus was not a compromise at all, it was a unilateral decision made with no transparency, no public input, and without the common courtesy of opening a dialogue with the hospital’s long-time partners on Moccasin Bend.

For the Tribal Nations and the National Park Service to find out about the proposed rebuild on Moccasin Bend from the news media – after being told for 18 months that dozens of alternate sites were under consideration – is completely unacceptable, especially in this day and age when transparency is crucial to maintaining public trust. Officials made this decision behind closed doors, without consulting stakeholders or their constituencies, and the more we find out about the process, the more questions arise.

From the National Park Cultural Landscape Report:

American Indian use and occupation of Moccasin Bend for approximately 12,000 years make this place a nationally important archeological resource. Moccasin Bend contains portions of the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, which commemorates the 1838 forced removal of the Cherokee Indians from their homelands by the U.S. government. Additional historic resources include important Civil War earthworks and campsites concentrated along Stringers Ridge. In 1986, out of recognition for the national significance of its cultural resources, 956 acres of the Bend received designation as the Moccasin Bend Archeological District National Historic Landmark. In 2003, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park (NMP) added 755 acres of the Bend as the Moccasin Bend National Archeological District unit of the park.