It’s Founder’s Day!
Rock City celebrates the 93rd anniversary of Rock City’s grand opening – May 21 – by showing appreciation for our founders, Garnet and Frieda Carter. If not for his entrepreneurial whit and her whimsical imagination, Rock City would have never become the beloved destination it is today.
The story begins at the turn of the 20th century when Garnet Carter, a natural born salesman of souvenirs, cigars and other novelties, found himself in the small town of Cowan, Tennessee on business, where he met a girl named Frieda Utermoehlen. Garnet quickly fell head over heels for this young artist and musician – the daughter of a regarded violinist. Garnet, the traveling salesman, would exchange letters with Frieda frequently until the two were married in 1905.
The newlyweds eventually settled in Garnet’s hometown of Chattanooga. Soon after, Garnet and a business partner looked to enter the real estate business, purchasing approximately 300 acres of land atop Lookout Mountain. On this rugged and largely inaccessible tract of land, they envisioned building Lookout Mountain’s first planned residential neighborhood. They named it Fairyland, inspired by Frieda’s love of the fairy tales from her German heritage, and decorated it with statuary imported from overseas adding to the charm. Lots were divided and each was assigned a number, which was put into a hat for buyers to draw. But Garnet saved 14 rocky acres along the mountain’s edge for himself and Frieda.
While Garnet was preoccupied with the newly built Fairyland Inn Hotel and soon-to-be-built golf course, Frieda began exploring her and Garnet’s slice of the mountain, an otherworldly landscape of rock formations and narrow crevices along the mountain’s edge.
“Rock City” was well known before Frieda walked its paths. Missionaries a century earlier had noted of great “citadel of rocks” atop Lookout Mountain and recorded history of Creek Indian inhabitation. What’s more, “Rock City” became its informal name just a few decades later and famous features like Grand Corridor were already in existence. But where others saw only a curious formation of nature, Frieda — ever the artist — saw Rock City as a blank canvas for something truly special. She began marking a trail with string – up and over and through the rock formations – and gathering native plants to enhance the beauty.
Thanks to her creativity and dedication, popularity began to rise as more and more people wanted to visit her gardens. Unfortunately for Frieda, her health began to deteriorate with what’s believed to have been multiple sclerosis. Due to her inability to walk, Garnet dedicated himself to finishing Frieda’s garden project. He saw such tremendous potential in what she had started that he redirected his focus from real estate development to perfecting Rock City.
It just so happened that Garnet had a surplus of gnomes and fairytale figurines that complemented the trail perfectly: Years earlier, as mounting delays slowed construction of the Fairyland Golf Course, Garnet improvised with an innovative sport to satisfy the growing number of impatient residents and visitors, creating the world’s first miniature golf course. Unlike other putting greens of the day, designed merely for practice, Garnet’s “Tom Thumb Golf” featured miniature hazards and was decorated with gnomes and elves, keeping with Fairyland’s theme. Though Garnet’s game grew to national acclaim, the mini-golf craze of the 1920s became oversaturated, which persuaded Garnet to sell his franchise. Thus, his collection of Tom Thumb characters found greater use at Rock City.
When Rock City Gardens opened on May 21, 1932, Garnet and Frieda knew they had created something special and were more than eager to share it with the world. However, things got off to a slow start because advertising in those days was difficult; especially since the Carters’ mountain-top attraction was not located in a place that people would just happen to be passing by and take notice. It was at this point Garnet came up with a now iconic idea… He enlisted the help of a young sign painter named Clark Byers, who was hired to travel the nation’s highways and offer to paint farmer’s barns in exchange for letting them paint three simple words: See Rock City. The distinctive black-and-white signs appeared as far north as Michigan and as far west as Texas. The advertising soon began to produce the desired effect and, by the close of the 1930s, more travelers than ever had seen Rock City Gardens.
Rock City Gardens continued to prosper with millions coming stopping by to see the legendary attraction. Garnet died in 1954, with Frieda following ten years later, but their legacy lives on in many ways along Rock City’s Enchanted Trail. On your next visit to Rock City, take a closer look at the bends in the trail, at the stone bridges and pathways, the scenes in Fairyland Caverns, and so much more. Many of our most intricate and imaginative creations were originally designed by Rock City’s innovative founders.
Here’s to you, Garnet and Frieda! Because of you, Rock City is still a sight to see.