Fort Oglethorpe seniors take a three-hour tour
Eleven members of Seniors and Friends of Fort Oglethorpe (SAFFO) put on their sea legs recently and boarded the Southern Belle Riverboat for a three-hour tour (everyone sing it again: a three-hour tour).
“It was a color cruise,” says SAFFO director Karon Parker. “The trees hadn’t turned yet, but it was a wonderful trip. The weather forecast was bad, so the boat wasn’t crowded, and the weather turned beautiful.”
The SAFFO gang was treated to live music by the band “Courtney Daly and the Daly Grind.” “They played a variety of music,” says Parker, “from Billy Joel to Willie Nelson. At the end of the trip, we were treated to some calliope music.”
While the band did not play the theme from “Titanic,” two SAFFO members, husband and wife Patch and Taire, were still inspired to reenact a scene from the movie, arms spread, staring out on the wide waters of the Tennessee River that sported not a single iceberg.
Parker says Captain Matt shared local history as they cruised along the river, including details about Maclellan Island, a nearly 19-acre wildlife sanctuary owned by the Chattanooga Audubon Society.
SAFFO passengers even got to play BINGO while on their cruise, and two of them won prizes.
“Some of our members stayed behind and met at Constitution Hall in Fort Oglethorpe, like we do every Wednesday,” says Parker. “When we got back we found that they had cleaned up the building and hadn’t left a bit of work for the rest of us to do. We really appreciated that.”
Interesting facts
A man by the name of Captain Lump had The Southern Belle Riverboat built in 1985 by Serodino Shipyards of Chattanooga.
The boat sees more than 100,000 passengers a year.
The Tennessee River was once known as the Cherokee River.
The 652-mile-long Tennessee River starts in Knoxville, runs down through Chattanooga, dips into Alabama, swings back up through Tennessee and ends near Paducah, Kentucky.
Seniors and Friends of Fort Oglethorpe meets every Wednesday (with a few exceptions) at Constitution Hall, 201 Forrest Road (next to the Fire Station), in Fort Oglethorpe. Meetings run from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The group plays games, has guest speakers and entertainment, shares a meal together, and shares one another’s joys and struggles. Members of the Fort Oglethorpe Fire Department come to give free blood-pressure and blood-sugar tests. For more information, contact Karon Parker at 423-595-7109 or drop in and see what’s going on.