Rock City’s iconic barns

It’s just about a 3 hour drive from Middle Georgia to Chattanooga and if you are lucky, you have been to the famous “eighth wonder of the world”, Rock City. Native Americans inhabited the Lookout Mountain area but when missionaries came in the 1820’s they discovered that the large piles of boulders on top of the mountain seemed to have pathways and coves. They called it a city of rocks and the name just kind of caught on from there!

During the Civil War era, scouts boasted that you could see seven states on a clear day from atop the mountain but the commercial endeavor didn’t come along until the late 1880’s when Garnet Carter and his European wife thought the area would make a great “fairyland” housing development and golf course. The rocky terrain proved to be difficult so they built a “miniature” golf course and Rock City boasted the first mini golf course in the country. It was called Tom Thumb golf from the famous fairy tale and the Carters built them all over the country.

The Great Depression came along and the Carter’s switched their focus to the rock gardens and planted various plants and folklore statuary along the paths. In order to try to get more attention and business, Garnet hired Clark Byers to travel the country and offer to paint farmers barns for free if they would allow the words “See Rock City” be painted on the roofs and or sides of the barns.

Byers painted barns all along the highways and byways for over 30 years, braving the elements and unhappy cattle along the way. By the time he retired in 1969 he had painted nearly a thousand barns in 19 states. He decided it was time to retire when he was nearly killed by a lightning strike!

People were traveling the highways more in the 1960’s and President Johnson and his wife Ladybird decided that one of their missions was to beautify the highways and considered the barns to be an eyesore. Legislation caused many of the barns to be repainted or torn down if they were deteriorating. Luckily the remaining barns are now considered historical in Tennessee and many other states from Michigan to Texas and descendents of the Carters and Byers continue to run the Rock City Gardens and paint barns today. I hope you will take a little weekend trip and check it out for yourself.

Years ago we took the kids when we were stationed at Arnold AFB in Tullahoma, Tennessee. My then seven year old was so excited when he saw portly gentlemen trying to navigate the trail known as “fat man’s squeeze” and the then three year old cracked up a huge crowd of people that were looking at the fairy tale dioramas in one of the caves. He was so excited he exclaimed, “Aw, Mama, look at all the little dorks!” when what he really meant to say was the word dwarves who were gathered around Snow White! Happy Collecting!

Jillinda Falen has been buying and selling antiques for over 30 years and is a licensed REALTOR and estate liquidation specialist. You can contact her through the Houston Home Journal or via email at jcfalen@gmail.com