Rock City

Everyone should "See Rock City" if they have the chance.  It is completely beautiful and cute.  It is also completely touristy and kitschy, but somehow that adds to the charm.  Rock City is located 6 miles outside Chattanooga, Tennessee. 

Rock City's Enchanted Trail has 4100 feet of walking trails that meander through rock formations and gardens.  The trail includes the Swing-A-Long bridge, which really does swing.  There is an alternative non-swinging bridge if you prefer.

The highlight of the trails is Lover's Leap.  From Lover's Leap (and the area around it-Seven States Plaza) you can see 7 states on a clear day-or so they say. This rock gets it's name from a Cherokee legend in which a brave and maiden fall in love, run away from their feuding tribes, get recaptured, and he gets thrown off and she jumps off the rock.  The waterfall is man made, but still pretty.

  

The Lover's Leap formation is natural and the area has been called Rock City since the early 1800s.  Rock City as we know it began in the 1920s when Garnet Carter purchased the land and gardens were planted.  In 1930, his wife Freida marked the paths.  It opened to the public in 1932.  During the Depression, business understandably slowed down.  Carter began offering to paint barns near roads for free if his painter, Clark Byers, could put the words See Rock City on the them.  An icon was born.  Rock City has since weathered highs and lows in tourist traffic, but has always continued to function.

Fun Fact:  Garnet Carter invented miniature golf!  He called it Tom Thumb golf.  He was quite a business man, with many different endeavors, including a housing development called Fairyland on land purchased along with the Rock City land.

 

Another trail highlight is Fat Man's Squeeze, a very tight part of the trail that often requires turning sideways. 

The trail includes the lovely Rainbow Hall.  Inside the hall you have lovely views through the colored windows and rainbow patterns on the floor and walls.

You can also amaze your friends by taking colorful photos through the windows without needing filters.

A final trail highlight is the stone witch.  She was very popular in the 1930s but was forgotten for decades and recently restored.

 The Fairyland Caverns is a trail through (man-made) rock caverns.  Inside the cavern are tableaus of fairy tales.  They are terribly kitschy and old, but also really cute.  The cavern is kept mostly dark and the tableaus are lit by black light.  They are better in person than my photos show.

Freida Carter, originally from Germany, had the cavern built to showcase stories from her childhood.  The sculptures were done by Jesse Sanders and completed in 1947. 

The final attraction at Rock City is the Mother Goose Village.  It is similar to the Fairyland Cavern, but instead of separate scenes, it is all done in one room on one large scene lit by black light.

 The Mother Goose Village was also done by Jesse Sanders and completed in 1964.

For more information, or maybe to purchase a bird house, see the Rock City website.