Rock City's Fairyland Caverns: Goldilocks

After spending some time trying to see seven states and various unusual rock formations, visitors to Rock City finish their visit along the Enchanted Trail by enjoying the sights of Fairyland Cavern.

When Fairyland Caverns first opened, most of the scenes consisted of their gnome collection and related decor fitting a fairy tale theme, all moved into a new section of the park that needed a purpose. Then in the late 40s, Rock City hired Atlanta artist Jessie Sanders to create the glow-in-the-dark scenes from popular fairy tales and these are the scenes that still exist today.

The first thing Mrs. Sanders crafted was a deer that stands next to Snow White. From there, she created individual displays for different tales. Other than the first two scenes (which depict a mother reading bedtime stories to the children and then the children asleep with "Dream Faries" flittering about) she was given free reign to create the scenes as inspiration struck. As the figures were cast from her Atlanta studio, they would be shipped to Rock City and installed after another artist, Marcus Lilly, would paint the backdrops. Jessie's husband Charles also helped create many of the props that are seen today.

After Jessie Sanders spent about a decade creating all of the vistas along the main hallway, she envisioned her most elaborate display in 1958. Mother Goose's Village was to be a large room with a miniature mountain, adorned by a castle, and many fairy tale characters seemlessly placed together to save the attraction's best for last. After six years of construction, the fantastic finale was opened to the public in May, 1964 delighting young and old since.

On my website, I have created a gallery entitled "A Tour of Rock City" where I not only have tried to photograph each individual display in Fairyland Caverns and much of Mother Goose's Village, but all the other wondrous scenes at the beloved tourist attraction. seemidtn.com/gallery/index.php?album=chattanooga%2Frock-city

Stay on TN58 and see Beautiful Rock City

In Tennessee, State highway TN58 passes through Kingston and Decatur before reaching Chattanooga on the east side of the Tennessee River. Once in Chattanooga, TN58 zig-zags all around the city and is actually quite tough to stay on. Once you make it to St. Elmo, TN58 ascends Lookout Mountain via the Ochs highway and you're practically at Rock City.

This barn is located just inside the Hamilton County line, just a few miles north of Harrison.

This is now one of over90 different Rock City Barns I have photographed and uploaded to Flickr in my Rock City Barns set. People often ask me how I've found so many of them. I have drawn from many resources such as books and web sites and sometimes luck, but there's not really one "go to" place to find them all. Well, now on my website, I have tried to create a one stop source for the locations of all of the barns I've been to. On my Map of Rock City Barns page, I have plotted each barn on a Google Map.

We've Seen ROCK CITY

As someone who loves the Rock City barns dotted across the highway landscape, I was thrilled when I found out they added another Rock City barn, and this one is actually inside Rock City. It may not be your typical See Rock City message, since this one says you've already Seen it, but I'll count it among my list.

This is now one of over 80 different Rock City Barns I have photographed and uploaded to Flickr in my Rock City Barns set. People often ask me how I've found so many of them. I have drawn from many resources such as books and web sites and sometimes luck, but there's not really one "go to" place to find them all. Well, now on my website, I have tried to create a one stop source for the locations of all of the barns I've been to. On my Map of Rock City Barns page, I have plotted each barn on a Google Map.

See Rock City barn in Georgia

Painted as part of Rock City's barn painting advertising program, this building is along highway US27 north of LaFayette, GA. You can't really tell now, but it's not actually a barn, but instead is an abandoned auto mechanic shop.

Although I just recently visited this barn for the first time, I learned about it several years ago when the owner tried to revive the business and Rock City repainted the roof. I guess it didn't work out. Here is a photo of the repaint:
www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2013/mar/05/georg...

Here is a Google Map view from 2008:
goo.gl/maps/e64BMcyPJSk

See Beautiful Rock City

I've been trying to organize my notes on which Rock City barns I have seen, and I found this barn which I never uploaded. I took this photo 13 years ago, but never uploaded it because the lighting was awful.

According to google maps, it's still around today.
www.google.com/maps/@37.0968886,-86.0091815,3a,60y,267.36...
It's on highway US 31W visible to southbound traffic in Barren County between Cave City and Park City.

This is now one of 91 different Rock City Barns I have photographed and uploaded to Flickr in my Rock City Barns set. People often ask me how I've found so many of them. I have drawn from many resources such as books and web sites and sometimes luck, but there's not really one "go to" place to find them all. Well, now on my website, I have tried to create a one stop source for the locations of all of the barns I've been to. On my Map of Rock City Barns page, I have plotted each barn on a Map.

SeeMidTN presents: Rock City Barns slideshow

Blount County Rock City Barn

Located along highway U.S. 129. Today, anyone who rides along the Tail of the Dragon will see it.

Flickr user tnserose contacted me and told me that her grandfather owned this barn. How cool!

This is now one of 87 different Rock City Barns I have photographed and uploaded to Flickr in my Rock City Barns set. People often ask me how I've found so many of them. I have drawn from many resources such as books and web sites and sometimes luck, but there's not really one "go to" place to find them all. Well, now on my website, I have tried to create a one stop source for the locations of all of the barns I've been to. On my Map of Rock City Barns page, I have plotted each barn on a Google Map.

Stay on TENN58 and SEE Beautiful ROCK CITY

Stay on --> TENN58 and SEE Beautiful__ ROCK CITY

This is a few miles north of Chattanooga on highway TN58 inside the Hamilton County line. not far from Georgetown, TN

Update: It appears the part of the barn with the word ROCK has been replaced with new wood since this photo was taken.

Rock City's Fairyland Caverns: Cindarella

After spending some time trying to see seven states and various unusual rock formations, visitors to Rock City finish their visit along the Enchanted Trail by enjoying the sights of Fairyland Cavern.

When Fairyland Caverns first opened, most of the scenes consisted of their gnome collection and related decor fitting a fairy tale theme, all moved into a new section of the park that needed a purpose. Then in the late 40s, Rock City hired Atlanta artist Jessie Sanders to create the glow-in-the-dark scenes from popular fairy tales and these are the scenes that still exist today.

The first thing Mrs. Sanders crafted was a deer that stands next to Snow White. From there, she created individual displays for different tales. Other than the first two scenes (which depict a mother reading bedtime stories to the children and then the children asleep with "Dream Fairies" flittering about) she was given free reign to create the scenes as inspiration struck. As the figures were cast from her Atlanta studio, they would be shipped to Rock City and installed after another artist, Marcus Lilly, would paint the backdrops. Jessie's husband Charles also helped create many of the props that are seen today.

After Jessie Sanders spent about a decade creating all of the vistas along the main hallway, she envisioned her most elaborate display in 1958. Mother Goose's Village was to be a large room with a miniature mountain, adorned by a castle, and many fairy tale characters seamlessly placed together to save the attraction's best for last. After six years of construction, the fantastic finale was opened to the public in May, 1964 delighting young and old since.

On my website, I have created a gallery entitled "A Tour of Rock City" where I not only have tried to photograph each individual display in Fairyland Caverns and much of Mother Goose's Village, but all the other wondrous scenes at the beloved tourist attraction.
seemidtn.com/gallery/index.php?album=chattanooga%2Frock-city

When You See ROCK CITY...

You See The Best!
It may be tough to see at first but those are the words once painted along this roof. Although not a barn, this building which looks like it was a general store many years ago was painted as if it was one of Rock City's barns. It's located in the small community of Topton, NC which is in the far northeast corner of Cherokee County near when highways US19 and US74 join up with US129.

This brings my total to 85 different Rock City Barns I have photographed and uploaded to Flickr in my Rock City Barns set. People often ask me how I've found so many of them. I have drawn from many resources such as books and web sites and sometimes luck, but there's not really one "go to" place to find them all. Well, now on my website, I have tried to create a one stop source for the locations of all of the barns I've been to. On my Map of Rock City Barns page, I have plotted each barn on a Google Map.

See Rock City barn - Ethridge, TN

Along highway US43 between Columbia and Lawrenceburg is the small town of Ethridge, TN. Ethridge is best known for all the nearby Amish farms.

Many people come to Ethridge to buy various fresh produce. From there, a bunch of flea markets and antique stores describing themselves as Amish Tourist Information stops sprung up.

With all of the tourists coming to the area, this Rock City Barn now appears in the middle of it all. Despite the rust of the roof coming through the white paint, I believe this is one of the newer Rock City barns around.

For what it's worth, the "A Place of Rest Campground" is on an old Amish farm.

Rock City Barn at Legacy Farms

First of all, I would like to thank my best friend Will C. for letting me upload his photo. While I am eager to visit this place and take a photo like this, it might be a while before I ever get the opportunity to visit this venue.

Legacy Farms is often used as a wedding venue south of Lebanon, TN along highway US231. I am not sure if it is the featured attraction out here, but this barn with a Rock City advertisement makes for quite an interesting photographic spot at their farm. Looking over their website, many professional photos are taken with this as the backdrop.

Rock City is well known for their advertising program of hand-painted barns, but they had plenty of hand painted billboards over the years, such as the one seen here which has now been affixed to this barn at Legacy Farms. As is frequently the case with hand-painted billboards, the message changed at some point over the years and as the newer message begins to fade, some of the older words are showing through.

See Rock City topped by a curved rainbow was commonly used as their logo in the 1980's, often on a pastel background like powder blue of yellow. Rock City's billboard program dates back to 1946, but Alvin the mascot, who is part of the older advertisement, wasn't created until the 50's. The older message includes "Fun in your future at..." Along the bottom, it says "Kids love Mother Goose Village" which is the large room at the end of Fairyland Caverns and was finished in 1964.

Rock City's Fairyland Caverns: Little Miss Muffet

After spending some time trying to see seven states and various unusual rock formations, visitors to Rock City finish their visit along the Enchanted Trail by enjoying the sights of Fairyland Cavern.

When Fairyland Caverns first opened, most of the scenes consisted of their gnome collection and related decor fitting a fairy tale theme, all moved into a new section of the park that needed a purpose. Then in the late 40s, Rock City hired Atlanta artist Jessie Sanders to create the glow-in-the-dark scenes from popular fairy tales and these are the scenes that still exist today.

The first thing Mrs. Sanders crafted was a deer that stands next to Snow White. From there, she created individual displays for different tales. Other than the first two scenes (which depict a mother reading bedtime stories to the children and then the children asleep with "Dream Faries" flittering about) she was given free reign to create the scenes as inspiration struck. As the figures were cast from her Atlanta studio, they would be shipped to Rock City and installed after another artist, Marcus Lilly, would paint the backdrops. Jessie's husband Charles also helped create many of the props that are seen today.

After Jessie Sanders spent about a decade creating all of the vistas along the main hallway, she envisioned her most elaborate display in 1958. Mother Goose's Village was to be a large room with a miniature mountain, adorned by a castle, and many fairy tale characters seamlessly placed together to save the attraction's best for last. After six years of construction, the fantastic finale was opened to the public in May, 1964 delighting young and old since.

On my website, I have created a gallery entitled "A Tour of Rock City" where I not only have tried to photograph each individual display in Fairyland Caverns and much of Mother Goose's Village, but all the other wondrous scenes at the beloved tourist attraction.
seemidtn.com/gallery/index.php?album=chattanooga%2Frock-city

See Rock City for $3.99

This is exactly what it looks like. It's a flower pot full of See Rock City Barn shaped birdhouse pencil-toppers on the floor of the Rock City gift shop. I bought a Christmas Tree Ornament instead.

See 7 States from ROCK CITY - Pulaski, KY

See 7 States from
ROCK CITY
near chattanooga, tenn

This looks to be an old convenience store that that was painted as part of the Rock City barn-painting advertising program. This is in Pulaski Co., KY just north of the town of Science Hill on Highway KY 1247. (the nearest cross-street is Etna road if you try to find it on a map).

KY1247 is also the old U.S. 27. Back in the day, anyone travelling south from Lexington or Cincinnati going to Chattanooga or deeper south would pass by this store, which obviously hasn't been open in years.

This store is becoming "reclaimed by nature." You can see that the walls of the building are red brick and on the side facing the camera, is an old spray-painted message of "Ice Cream" and "Cold Drinks." Below those words, where the building looks gray, is a place where the bricks have fallen off and you can see some of the wood frame. The front of the store facing the street is on the left.

See Beautiful Rock City

This beautiful Rock City barn has been well maintained, and the farm is for sale so it can be your for the right price. This barn is located on state highway KY91 about halfway between Princeton and Hopkinsville, KY. It's in Christian County, but it's just about a mile from the Caldwell County line.

This is now one of over 80 different Rock City Barns I have photographed and uploaded to Flickr in my Rock City Barns set. People often ask me how I've found so many of them. I have drawn from many resources such as books and web sites and sometimes luck, but there's not really one "go to" place to find them all. Well, now on my website, I have tried to create a one stop source for the locations of all of the barns I've been to. On my Map of Rock City Barns page, I have plotted each barn on a Google Map.

See Rock City Today

Originally known as the Tennessee Road, US411 was the highway used from Northwest Georgia to reach the Smokey Mountains. This Rock City barn in a cornfield is seen by northbound travelers in Bartow County along this highway.

This is now one of 85 different Rock City Barns I have photographed and uploaded to Flickr in my Rock City Barns set. People often ask me how I've found so many of them. I have drawn from many resources such as books and web sites and sometimes luck, but there's not really one "go to" place to find them all. Well, now on my website, I have tried to create a one stop source for the locations of all of the barns I've been to. On my Map of Rock City Barns page, I have plotted each barn on a Google Map.

In the news: Rock City Barns get repainted

Recently, a See Rock City barn near Crossville, TN was repainted. The Chattanooga Times Free Press has the story and includes a slideshow. You can see the article here:

Barn bearing iconic "See Rock City" sign gets a fresh coat of paint

Here is a photo of the same barn taken in 2006. Back then, it looked like it hadn't been too long since the previous repaint. This barn is east of Crossville along highway TN68 in the Grassy Cove area of Cumberland County.



Rock City's facebook page also shared this photo of another recent repaint:

Not so long ago we did this See Rock City barn repaint - today (hoping for no rain) we're on the road again doing...

Posted by Rock City on Wednesday, June 10, 2015

See Beautiful Rock City

This beautiful Rock City barn has been well maintained, and the farm is for sale so it can be your for the right price. This barn is located on state highway KY91 about halfway between Princeton and Hopkinsville, KY. It's in Christian County, but it's just about a mile from the Caldwell County line.

This is now one of 83 different Rock City Barns I have photographed and uploaded to Flickr in my Rock City Barns set. People often ask me how I've found so many of them. I have drawn from many resources such as books and web sites and sometimes luck, but there's not really one "go to" place to find them all. Well, now on my website, I have tried to create a one stop source for the locations of all of the barns I've been to. On my Map of Rock City Barns page, I have plotted each barn on a Google Map.

See Beautiful Rock City

See Beautiful Rock City
Near Chattanooga, Tenn.

Here is a tough to get to Rock City Barn that is not recommended, but there's no other real way to go see it. This barn is located off of Interstate 40 at exit 356. Specifically, for the people in Roane County travelling northbound on TN326 / TN58, this barn is located just off of the eastbound on-ramp to I-40. When I first learned of this barn several years ago, I took that on-ramp only to find that you can just barely see the barn through the trees.

On this particular day near the end of fall after the leaves have fallen off, it's a little bit easier to see, but not really. I parked on the shoulder of the on-ramp to try to get a closer look on foot. As it turns out, there was a well-established path through the overgrowth to get a closer look. (I had no idea there were so many of us wanting to photograph this barn!) At the time, the entire property looked desolate with no signs of anyone living there and a for sale sign in front of the house. If I thought someone actively lived here, I wouldn't have tried it and would have sat in the car pouting like my previous occasion where I tried to see it through the trees.

This barn has a bonus challenge for anyone reading this who might be extra daring. The other side is also painted with the message "See Rock City Today." I wasn't particularly keen on weed-whacking to get to the other side, but maybe you'd like to try it. To me, the weird thing is I'm not sure how many people have ever seen the other side. The line of trees makes it virtually impossible today. With the angle of the barn, it would have been awfully difficult to see from the westbound traffic on I-40 or the on-ramp with your head turned around.

See it on a google map here: goo.gl/maps/dYx17

This is now one of 83 different Rock City Barns I have photographed and uploaded to Flickr in my Rock City Barns set. People often ask me how I've found so many of them. I have drawn from many resources such as books and web sites and sometimes luck, but there's not really one "go to" place to find them all. Well, now on my website, I have tried to create a one stop source for the locations of all of the barns I've been to. On my Map of Rock City Barns page, I have plotted each barn on a Google Map.