CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- “We want to tell Chattanooga’s story in a way no one ever has before.”
Soon, you will be able step forward into Chattanooga’s past.
The Chattanooga-Hamilton County History Experience is currently under construction at Broad and Third Streets on the riverfront.
Funded by the county government, the experience will feature various exhibits on major historical events in our city’s history.
Designed to celebrate America 250, this will be different from your average history museum.
Creative director Isaiah Smallman said, “One of the predominant experiences people have when they go to a museum is that when you walk in, everything is at arm’s length and you’re not supposed to really touch anything and everything is quiet. I love being able to go in and actually touch things and I’m an adult, let alone a kid.”
One of the interactive exhibits will include the recreation of a cave and the historical significance of geology on our area.
Smallman said, “We don’t think of how caves form. We don’t think of the significance, of their ability to preserve really important, cultural, or even geological art.”
There will also be an exhibit dedicated to Ed Johnson, who was lynched in Chattanooga in 1906.
Designers are building a jail cell as part of telling his story.
Smallman said, “It’s not just a thing that says, ‘This is what happened to Johnson.’ It’s a recreation of a jail cell that you can go in so you have more of a first person experience and invites you to imagine the complex emotions that he was feeling at the time.”
High school students like Julius Alnen are getting to play a key lead in the design of the experience.
He is getting to direct a short film that will played during the experience about Johnson.
Alnen explained, “For one of the first times as a director I’ve been able to completely focus on the creative aspect, which is a liberty that not a lot of student filmmakers get to have since we’re always worrying about, “I need to cast. I need to get the equipment.’ But right now I have an entire team that I’m working with.”
He says he hopes students are inspired by what they see.
Alnen said, “Right now in today’s modern climate, especially with the things that people are interested in, the films you see shifting itself to younger voices being heard. People want to listen to younger voices more and a lot of people think just because I’m under the age of 20 or 30 that I can’t go and I can’t achieve my dreams. You can do it.”
The experience is expected to open sometime in August.
