Ruby Falls is located inside Lookout Mountain. There’s a cave passage that goes way inside the belly of the mountain, and for the right price, a guide will take you to it. Before our tour, we decided to take a peek from the Observation Tower.

Being experienced travelers by now, the boys capitalized on the remaining minutes left by the people who’d paid to use the telescopes but left before their time was up.

That’s the Tennessee River winding its way to Chattanooga. An expected beautiful view.

What we didn’t expect to see was this. Somewhere down there in that ribbon-cutting crowd is the governor of TN and the mayor of Chattanooga. Ruby Falls was officially opening a new section of their establishment that day. Who knew? RF is a privately owned operation, and obviously a big deal to the area.

We waited for our tour to begin, which didn’t take long. You end up being in a large group, about forty to fifty people. A guide takes you down the elevator 260 ft into the ground. From there, you walk for about thirty minutes to get to the falls. There are stops along the way where neat stalagmites (mineral deposits that come up from the ground) and stalactites (the ones that hang from above) are pointed out. They’ve named them over the years according to what the namer thought it looked like…potato chips, angel wings, elephant foot, turtle, meat and potatoes…but some of the shapes, well, it was a little like constellations. You know what I mean. 

That’s Martin, our guide, at the top of the picture. He’s a gentleman of about 6’4″ height. He had to duck sometimes. I never did.

By the time you get to Ruby Falls, you’re over 1100 feet under ground. But as Martin our guide pointed out, it’s not because you descended at all while walking. It’s because the mountain above you increases in elevation. Martin was a smart guy. And had a very dry sense of humor. He also gladly accepted tips at the end of the tour. Everybody works for tips!

On the way, Martin shared that Ruby Falls is named after the wife of the man who first discovered the falls after exploring the cave. He’d bought the rights to the mountain and cave after the miners were done with it. But no one knew there was a natural water fall back inside. He and a friend, along with a few employees, went exploring and found the waterous wonder after hours of crawling on their bellies. It became a local tourist attraction for a short time, but because of the Depression, sadly, the business venture failed.

Today, it’s thriving. So much so, the governor and mayor come around for things like cutting a red ribbon.

The boys are looking more like Albert every day……….at least while in the Ruby Falls Gift Shop.

We had another important thing to see that day. We were headed to the Chattanooga National Cemetery.

We love listening to audio dramas created by Your Story Hour. This little production company has been around for decades, and they do stories about historical figures and events. One of the stories we enjoy is The Daring Locomotive Chase. If you’re not familiar with Your Story Hour, maybe you’ve seen Disney’s version of the story starring Fess Parker.

Either way, the story is one of great courage and unwavering dedication to duty. The true story took place during the Civil War. It involves Union spies going into Confederate territory. In the end, you could say the Confederates win. But the Union soldiers weren’t forgotten. They’re memorialized here at the National Cemetery. Rightly so.

At the end of the two-part story, the teller, Aunt Carol, tells listeners that if they’re ever in the Chattanooga area, they should stop by the cemetery and see the memorial. We mentioned to each other that would be fun someday. “Someday” came June 22, 2018!

There is headstone for each man, including the civilian who lost his life.

We hope you’ll listen to the story. Here’s a link to the Your Story Hour website.  https://www.yourstoryhour.org/

YSH even offers a free story of the week on their website. And be sure to watch Fess Parker. Very worthwhile.