Where We Play Bocce
Venues at which we play bocce: (Click on the highlighted name to link to a map)
The Chattanooga Bocce Club, 1811 Dodds Ave. On the west side of the street between Main and 23rd. Actually not yet ready for play, but the hottest bocce news between Florence, Alabama and Florence, Italy. To be the site of a four court indoor bocce venue. Smack in the middle of the Chattanooga metropolitan area and only .6mi. from the 4th Ave. exit of I-24, bocce will move to a whole new level in town. Expected completion: 2010 or 2011, although we should have playable courts in 2010.
Heritage Park, 1428 Jenkins Road, north off the approx. 7800 block of East Brainerd Road on the acerage that once housed the Narrow Bridge Restaurant. This is now a developed, major city park of 20 or 30 acres. At this time, this is Chattanooga's only public bocce court, and is courtesy of your progressive Parks and Recreation Department. Find it near the playground - too near.
Historical Note: For documentation, posterity, and entertainment: Heritage Park is part of what was originally 60 acres owned by George K. "Pappy" Henshall. When Pappy died, he was buried in a family plot in Rome, GA. His spouse Sarah missed him terribly. His son, George Jr. built the small raised burial plot with the Henshall marker that is close to the present location of the bocce court. Pappy was disinterred in Rome and moved to the Henshall plot in East Brainerd to be near his beloved. When Sarah died, she was buried in Rome, GA., and Pappy was relocated back to Rome where they rest in peace together. Nobody else was ever buried in the East Brainerd Henshall plot. So, the answer to the question sometimes raised during bocce matches as to who is buried in Henshall's tomb?: Nobody! George K. Henshall, Jr. was a radiologist and senior partner of C. W. "Windy" Kimsey, who was later a senior partner of Frank H. Knight, the first Chairman of the Board of the Chattanooga Bocce Club. Sometimes the town does seem small. The Kimsey home is across Jenkins Road on some of the acreage. G.K.H.,III sold what remained from the original acreage, after other subdividing, to the City, which built the Park. Incidentally, there is a George K.Henshall,IV born in or approx. in 1990.
Marina Pointe, 5750 Lake Resort Drive, approx. 1 mile north of the dam. This is a private apartment complex. The court is open to members of the Chattanooga Bocce Club and accompanied guests (at this time). Find the court straight ahead after passing through the main entrance, and curving to the left down hill to the end.
The Richard Goins Home, 7114 Jarnigan Road. The first member of the Club with a bocce court in his yard.
The David Jones Home, 927 Givens Road. The third member of the Club to have a court in his yard.
"Roving bocce" on grass or on the beach. One doesn't need a bocce court to play bocce! More people in the U.S. have probably played bocce without a court than with. You will see from the rules section, no court is specified. A court adds the strategy component of using the sideboard for bocce (the big ball) placement, but it isn't necessary to play on a court to have a great game of bocce.
