If you were to visit Rock City over 92 years ago, you wouldn’t see any crowds or restaurants, no viewfinders or art sculptures, no gardens, musicians or even gnomes. What you would see, however, is a woman, with red string in hand, climbing over, around and through massive rock formations, shaping the route of what would soon become the iconic Enchanted Trail.
Every trail has a trailblazer, and we have Frieda Carter to thank for mapping out Rock City Gardens.
Before Rock City, this “citadel of rocks,” as one missionary in 1823 described it, was accessible only to the adventurous. That was until Garnet and Frieda Carter ascended the mountain.
While Garnet, a real estate developer, was preoccupied with the Depression-era challenges of developing the mountaintop Fairyland neighborhood and the adjoining golf course, Freida was busy at work in her rocky cliffside backyard. Through meticulous planning, she turned an extraordinary vision into a 4,100-foot walking trail of geological, botanical and fairytale wonder.
So this spring, be on the lookout for the giant ball of red string on the Enchanted Trail, as Rock City honors Frieda’s legacy of discovery and stewardship at Rock City Nights: Flora Luna.
See shadow and light transform the way you see Rock City at this twilight garden party event, where culinary, gardens and art are intertwined with an original musical score.
With a simple red string, Frieda forged a trail through rocks and put Rock City and Lookout Mountain on the map.