The City of Lookout Mountain, Georgia sits atop the mountain bearing the same name, near the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee. The high, wide plateau that forms the top of the mountain is surrounded by near perpendicular cliffs that give way to a more gentle slope near the bottom leading into the regions of Chattanooga Valley, Lookout Valley, and the St. Elmo Historic District.
A progression of Native Americans lived on the mountaintop including Creek and Cherokee Indians. Around the base of the mountain Cherokee of the "Lower Towns" or the Chickamauga, lived. The name Chattanooga, in fact, is the Creek Indian word for the mountain itself.
The First Settlers
In 1782 a group of settlers fought British-inspired Cherokee Indians on the north slope of the mountain. Although it is promoted as the last battle of the American Revolution by many people, it is not. There were later, similar battles fought in the area of present-day Ohio as late as November, 1782. The Lookout Mountain area (at least the area at the bottom of the mountain) was among the earliest settled in North Georgia and Tennessee. Settlers moved south from Fort Loudon (near Knoxville) along the Tennessee River.
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