The oldest building in Chattanooga still standing is the Brabson House on Fifth Street built in 1858. Union officer John T. Wilder, for which the tower in Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park is named, was elected mayor of the city after the Civil War.
Bright alumnus Maury Nicely '83 imparted these facts and more about the history of Chattanooga to third graders today as part of their social studies class. Third graders are making travel brochures for area attractions and discovering what makes Chattanooga special.
Nicely, an attorney with the firm Evans Harrison Hackett in Chattanooga, is a history buff in his spare time and author of two history books, “Chattanooga Walking Tour and Historic Guide” and “East Tennessee Walking Tour and Historic Guide.” He has visited with third grade classes for several years. His sons, William '15, and Charles '13, also graduated from Bright.
Nicely is known for his dramatic story telling, and students were captivated by his version of the Great Locomotive Chase during the Civil War and Wilder's time as leader of the Lightning Brigade mounted infantry, which attacked Chattanooga from Stringer's Ridge in 1863.
A highlight of Nicely's Chattanooga presentation is always the questions and answers at the end, and students did not disappoint, with one young student asking if Nicely was alive during the Civil War. He knows so much about it that it only seems that way.
