Recently kids and families were treated to a day of free fishing at Booker T. Washington State Park thanks to a grant provided by the National Park Foundation (NPF) and the creative minds at National Park Partners (NPP).
The NPF awarded $1.2 million in grants to 57 national parks, park partners, and community-based organizations supporting Junior Ranger Angler programming.
Jennifer Crutchfield, NPP’s Director of Community Engagement and Education, said she’s created several programs, thinking outside the box, to allow Hamilton County students to experience the great outdoors and learn a little about their city’s history.
While the Junior Ranger Angler program was created by the National Park Service, Crutchfield was instrumental in getting the grant fund and fostering the partnerships necessary to make the event successful.
Crutchfield is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to Chattanooga’s historical people, events, buildings, natural parks and more. She enjoys sharing her vast knowledge with the next generation of Chattanoogans, hopefully planting the seed for the next local historian to blossom from.
They chose Booker T. Washington State Park for their Junior Ranger Angler Program because it hosts an annual Bobby Wilson Free Fishing Day with Outdoor Chattanooga. On that day all state residents and visitors of any age may fish for free without a license in Tennessee’s public waters.
Crutchfield added a little history lesson too, informing me that Booker T. Washington collaborated with Julius Rosenwald to build nearly 5,000 schools across the South. Hamilton County had eight Rosenwald schools built for African American students.
She said it made sense to host it there to teach the children much more than how to hook their bait. They learned a bit of local history.
“Camp Contraband became a big community, electing leadership from within,” Crutchfield said about the freed slaves. She explained that Camp Contraband was a Civil War-era encampment for liberated and escaping slaves. We know it today as Coolidge Park and Renaissance Park.
Many residents of Camp Contraband gradually moved to higher ground away from the river, creating Hill City, one of the city's oldest post-Civil War African American neighborhoods.
Booker T. Washington was also great friends with George W. Franklin, a pioneer Chattanooga undertaker and prominent member of the National Negro Business League. Washington also shared a warm, long-lasting relationship with George's son, John Porter Franklin, who grew to become a prominent civic lead. The family-run funeral home is still in operation today.
While the kids and families received a history lesson they spent most of the day learning how to reel in their catch, identifying the type of fish they caught and how to cast their rod. Teams were challenged to answer questions about the State Park and submitted photos of their catches. Two lucky participants won free Nexgrill gas grills.
State Park Rangers and the team from Outdoor Chattanooga helped bait hooks, teach new anglers, and ensure a safe and successful day. Crutchfield said they partnered with Jack's Bait & Tackle allowing each child to go home with a free rod and reel. They also contributed the bait.
“You should have seen all the smiling faces of the kids and their families,” Crutchfield said. “It was a great day.”
Crutchfield and the folks at the NPP also recently partnered with National Park Service Rangers at the Chickamauga and Chattanooga Military National Park for a summer camp experience as part of the Junior Ranger Angler program.
During that week kids spent time on site on the battlefield learning about the history of the Civil War and more.
“We took them to the creek where they learned Indigenous fishing practices and the history of the Indigenous people before the Civil War,” Crutchfield said. “They learned how to read maps and make their own maps led by NPS’s Cartographer. They learned how Civil War soldiers supplemented their food rations fishing in these creeks. They stood on the spot where the first bullets were fired in the Battle of Chickamauga.”
As a part of the Open OutDoors for Kids grant, also supported by the National Park Foundation, Crutchfield recently guided students through Moccasin Bend National Archeological District’s 12,000 years of history.
“These kids got to walk along the same trails as Indigenous people and follow the original Trail of Tears,” she said. “They walked on the same field where Jacob Cummings escaped slavery, making his way to Canada in a four-year journey, helping establish what became the Underground Railroad. And then right before we left, we spotted a Bald Eagle. Can you imagine their excitement?”
Crutchfield is already working on securing grants and funding for next year’s Junior Ranger Angler where she is hoping to double the number of participants. She is working on the next Open OutDoors for Kids event and is looking to add a STEM program to the mix. All while still visiting Hamilton County School children for educational lectures on the city’s vast history.
NPP has 40-minute lesson plans available online or in-school presentations, after-school presentations and NPS field trips. Lessons are free and bus stipends are available to Hamilton, Catoosa, and Walker County Title I Schools. They are designed for 4th to 8th grades.
For more information on lessons and events visit www.nppcha.org