Located in the heart of downtown Chattanooga is an 18.8-acre island with thick green landscape, native history, and…roaming goats. Accessible only by boat or paddle, Maclellan Island is primitive, featuring tent-only campsites and a sense of adventure that’s hard to reproduce this close to any other major city.
Situated on the Tennessee River, this island is home to two campsites and 1.5 miles of trail that provide a solitary, intimate experience. It’s also a hotspot for nesting waterfall, muskrats, river otters, and the occasional white-tailed deer. Here’s what else you need to know about camping on Maclellan Island.
A Brief History of Maclellan Island
Native people were the earliest known inhabitants of Maclellan Island, which likely belonged to the nearby village of Citico. Archaeologists have dated the island’s history of human habitation to at least 500-900 CE.
In the 1800s, locals knew the island colloquially as Ross’s Landing and commonly used it during river crossings. It served a darker role during the United States’ forcible removal of the Cherokee from the southeast, when Ross’s Landing was an embarkation point for what is now known as the Trail of Tears…