City: Lookout Mountain, GA

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (706) 820-2531

Address: 1400 Patten Rd.

Description: See Rock City. You’ve seen the barns and birdhouses painted with that slogan, and if you’ve ever been to Chattanooga, chances are that you have seen Rock City. If you haven’t been to Rock City, one of Chattanooga’s best-known attractions, be sure to stop by on your next visit. Rock City Gardens began more than 60 years ago, when Frieda Carter and her husband, Garnet, developed a 10-acre garden among huge boulders and natural rock formations on this mountaintop. It opened to the public in 1932. The ingenious advertising campaign followed in 1937, when Garnet Carter hired a young man named Clark Byers to paint barn roofs with messages. Over the next 32 years, Byers painted the See Rock City slogan on more than 900 barns in nearly 20 states. In the ’50s Rock City added birdhouses to its campaign. But it all came to an end after the Beautification Act of 1965. Barns and birdhouses were painted over. Today, fewer than 100 of the painted barns remain, but the legend lives on. The See Rock City slogan can be seen on subways, gardens, birdhouses, and other spots around the world. Now that you know the history, what can you expect at Rock City Gardens? Lovely gardens and great scenery, mostly. Take a self-guided tour along the Enchanted Trail, where you’ll observe unique rock formations and various gardens with more than 400 species of wildflowers, shrubs, and other plants. The trail takes you through a couple of tight squeezes—the Needle’s Eye and Fat Man’s Squeeze—between massive boulders. At the top, at famous Lover’s Leap, you can supposedly see seven states—Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. The walk through the charming Fairyland Caverns and Mother Goose Village is especially fun for the kids. The whole trip takes about 60 to 90 minutes. Rock City Gardens is open daily except Christmas.