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Aaron Tanner photo
Rock City: Still Drawing Crowds at 90
A marker points out the views possible on a clear day.
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Susanna Shetley photo
Rock City: Still Drawing Crowds at 90
High Falls at Lover’s Leap presents a signature photo opportunity at Rock City.
In 1823, a unique geological formation was described as a “citadel of rocks” by a missionary passing through Lookout Mountain on the Tennessee/Georgia line. That same discovery is now one of the premier nature parks and roadside attractions in the South. Celebrating 90 years in 2022, Rock City, located outside Chattanooga, attracts over half a million tourists annually from across the United States and the world to marvel at the different geological and botanical features.
Visitors enjoy strolling along the iconic 4,100-foot Enchanted Trail that weaves its way past ancient rock formations such as Mushroom Rock, Balance Rock, Fatman’s Squeeze, and the Grand Corridor, named after what these colossal formations closely resemble. Another star feature of Rock City is the over 400 different types of native flowers, shrubs, and trees carefully tended to by four full-time staff members in the horticulture department. Visitors also come for the stunning views from lookout points such as the 200-foot-long Swing-Along Bridge and Lover’s Leap, said to be named after a Cherokee maiden named Nacoochee, who jumped to her death after her forbidden lover from a warring tribe met the same fate. The claim of seeing seven states from Lover’s Leap dates back to the Civil War, where both Confederate and Union soldiers claimed in their diaries that on a clear day one could see all the way to Mount Pinnacle on the Kentucky/Virginia border.
Although Native Americans and early residents of the area have long known about these rock formations, it would not be until the early 20th Century when the potential for making money on this same site would occur. Originally from Sweetwater, Tennessee, Garnet Carter moved to Chattanooga at age 11 and, as an adult, would become a prominent businessman. While working as a traveling salesman, Garnet met a musician from Johnson City, Tennessee, named Frieda Utermoehlen, and the two married. Frieda’s love of European folklore and children’s stories was the inspiration behind Garnet’s first large-scale project, the Fairyland neighborhood on top of Lookout Mountain, designed to attract wealthy residents and tourists during the 1920s. “Many of the streets in Fairyland Village were named after storybook characters,” said author and historian Tim Hollis, who wrote two books about Rock City’s history.
To entertain guests at the neighborhood’s Fairyland Hotel, Garnet created the first successful miniature golf course, called Tom Thumb Golf, which was eventually franchised nationwide. Unfortunately, the fortunes of the endeavor would be brief; the onset of the Great Depression and competition copying the idea caused Garnet to sell the chain. “The miniature golf fad did not last long,” Hollis said.
Around the same time, Frieda became ill, and Garnet needed a steady income to care for her. Despite her failing health, she quietly worked on a rock garden in the Fairyland neighborhood that included creating a trail to Lover’s Leap, adding plants and flowers along the path. Garnet eventually saw a potential business opportunity with his wife’s idea and believed the public would pay to visit. The idea was also appealing because it was more unique than a miniature golf course. “Garnet needed a way to make money and realized that a rock garden could not be copied,” Hollis said.
On May 21, 1932, Rock City Gardens opened to the public and almost immediately became a hit. Because of her German heritage, Frieda loved garden gnomes, so she moved them from the Fairyland neighborhood to inside the park. Many improvements were made during the park’s early years, including the present-day entrance, built in 1937, replacing the earlier ticket counter, and parking, a gift shop, and a gas station. Lover’s Leap also received a significant facelift with the addition of retaining walls and flatter walking surfaces for visitors’ safety, and a waterfall built after World War II for additional visual effects. “Lover’s Leap was an insurance adjuster’s nightmare because the original surface was uneven, and there was nothing to prevent people from going over the side of the cliff,” Hollis said.
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Rock City photo
Rock City: Still Drawing Crowds at 90
In 1964, Mother Goose Village opened inside Fairyland Caverns, with nursery rhyme figures such as Little Miss Muffet and Old Mother Hubbard.
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Aaron Tanner photo
Rock City: Still Drawing Crowds at 90
In 1964, Mother Goose Village opened inside Fairyland Caverns, with nursery rhyme figures such as Little Miss Muffet and Old Mother Hubbard.
A highlight of Rock City still in existence today, Fairyland Caverns, opened at the end of the Enchanted Trail in 1949 to appeal for the Post-war baby boom and Frieda’s continued love of children’s bedtime stories. Many figures from famous fairy tales, including Snow White, Cinderella, and Goldilocks, were brought to life by Atlanta-based Artist Jessie Sanders. She used brightly colored paints on the sculptures so they stood out in the blacklight illumination in the cave known. In 1964, Mother Goose Village opened inside Fairyland Caverns, with nursery rhyme figures such as Little Miss Muffet and Old Mother Hubbard. It was also designed by Sanders thanks to inspiration from a castle in a children’s pop-up book. With a few exceptions, Garnet gave Sanders creative control over the features inside Fairyland Caverns and Mother Goose Village. “Garnet requested to her that the opening scene of Fairyland Cavers depict a scene of a mother reading bedtime stories to her kids,” Hollis said.
Although much of the gardens remain the same as when they first opened, the park has received updates to keep visitors coming. The Art in Nature Series at Rock City began in 2009, with commissioned artists from Chattanooga and other states designing sculptures from recycled and reusable materials based on themes from the garden’s history. Maloria, a motherly protector of the park, is the attraction’s latest commissioned piece. In 2020, the Enchanted Trail received significant renovations, including installing fiber optic colored lighting to stone ceilings, new glass at Rainbow Hall, and decorating the railings with jewels carefully designed to make the gardens feel more like a fairy-tale. “There is much thought and creative planning that goes into any trail enhancement we do,” said Rock City President and Chief Executive Officer Susan Harris. “We have an amazing innovation team who are true artists that know our place in such a way that anything added in fits with formations or pathways already there, along with our history and our founder’s vision.”
As other regional attractions—Biltmore in North Carolina and Callaway Gardens in Georgia—began adding special events to attract a new audience, Rock City saw the potential. Festivities were added at different times of the year beginning in the 1980s, giving the attraction a different feel depending on the season. The park’s most popular event, the Enchanted Garden of Lights—held in mid-November through December—debuted in 1995 and today features over 1 million LED Christmas lights along the Enchanted Trail. “These events gave us a way to offer new experiences for guests, alongside trail enhancements that are ongoing,” Harris said. This year, Rock City will host a year-long 90th-anniversary celebration, starting with its 90 Days of Summer event in May.
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Rock City photo
Rock City: Still Drawing Crowds at 90
Pathways throughout the Rock City property lead visitors to Lover’s Leap.
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Susanna Shetley photo
Rock City: Still Drawing Crowds at 90
Pathways throughout the Rock City property lead visitors to Lover’s Leap.
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Rock City photo
Rock City: Still Drawing Crowds at 90
Despite society’s high-tech, fast-paced, noisy nature, visitors still enjoy Rock City’s peaceful walks in nature.
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Susanna Shetley photo
Rock City: Still Drawing Crowds at 90
Despite society’s high-tech, fast-paced, noisy nature, visitors still enjoy Rock City’s peaceful walks in nature.
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Rock City photo
Rock City: Still Drawing Crowds at 90
A classic Rock City barn painting.
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Susanna Shetley photo
Rock City: Still Drawing Crowds at 90
Pathways throughout the Rock City property lead visitors to Lover’s Leap.
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Aaron Tanner photo
Rock City: Still Drawing Crowds at 90
Despite society’s high-tech, fast-paced, noisy nature, Harris said visitors still enjoy Rock City’s alternative, with peaceful walks in nature. The attraction tries to delicately balance modern comforts such as Wi-Fi and selfie stations with low-tech updates that complement the park’s scenery. “This has been intentional in not wanting the gardens to become so modernized that it loses its natural feel,” Harris said. “Rock City is such a unique place —with enough merit from its natural beauty—that there has not been a need for rides to be installed, or commercialized projects.”
A key factor for Rock City’s longtime success has been its aggressive advertising and marketing approach. One of its most iconic marketing campaigns was painted barns along the side of highways across the South, done by Georgia-based painter Clark Byers. He painted the catchphrase “See Rock City” on the barns to direct early automobile drivers to the park when roadside tourism was in its infancy. As more Americans moved from rural locations to urban settings, Rock City updated its marketing strategy, advertising in motels and restaurants with brochures and postcards, and with billboards on federal highways and later along the interstate highway system.
Another Rock City advertising staple that overtook the barns in popularity was birdhouses. Initially created in the 1950s as a miniature version of the barns, the birdhouse motif was initially created to serve as a mailbox. After the Postal Service rejected the design, Byers decided to re-create the layout, poke holes in the object, and turn it into a birdhouse, which ended up a better way to promote Rock City than the iconic barns. “One could fit more birdhouses along the side of the road than the barn due to its portability,” Hollis said. After shrinking from their original size, the birdhouses became a popular item sold at Rock City’s gift shop. “People from all over the world continue to send us pictures of our birdhouses” in locations spanning the globe, Harris said.
Despite its successes, Rock City has faced challenges throughout its long history, including being limited only to soldiers stationed at nearby Fort Oglethorpe during World War II, and shut down for two months at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. During the 1960s and 1970s, American tourism shifted significantly, with the interstates bypassing the old two-lane highways and Rock City’s advertising. The development of theme parks, including Six Flags in Georgia and Walt Disney World in Florida, siphoned off many of Rock City’s visitors, while other roadside attractions across the South closed.
The gas shortages in the Carter administration threatened Rock City’s survival as Americans curtailed traveling. Family-owned for much of its history—Garnet Carter passed ownership to his nephew Edward Chapin, in 1950, and it passed to Edward’s son, Bill, in 1986—Rock City weathered the economic downturn by updating its marketing strategy, including reaching potential tourists via television and radio commercials, and updating their billboards. “No matter how bad things got, the Chapin family thought things would get better,” Hollis said. “If a large corporation owned it, Rock City could have easily gone out of business.”
Today, despite bigger, faster, and more exotic tourist destinations, people are still attracted to Rock City’s timeless charm. Harris said it appeals to all generations with a nostalgia factor of a simpler time, while appropriate modern touches ensure that it will be around for future generations.
“The rocks don’t change, and the fairy tales don’t change,” Hollis said. “Rock City is such an institution that there is no chance that people will forget about it.”