On a nostalgic journey today, while doing Monday morning chores at the BAQ (Bachelor Officer Quarters), here between the swamp and the sea.
I was put walking early this morning, and wishing it would dry out enough to cut grass, and noticed a small bird coming and going from our old Rock City bird house. The got me to thinking about Rock City and what a magical place it is, and also what a unique advertising idea it created.
In 1932, Garnet Carter decided to open his wife neatly manicured gardens atop Lookout Mountain to the public. He developed a strategy of painting barns along roadways as a means of advertising his venture. "See Rock City" was painted on the roofs and sides of barns, from the great lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Numbering over 900 hundred in the heyday to just around 100 still existing today. Rock City was opened at a time to give the depression weary nation a destination for a road trip and a vacation.
In the 1960s it was magic for me to see those barns along the roadway and Rock City was a magical place as well. I can remember looking at View Master slides of all the rock formations, and wanting to be there so bad. One should also remember at this time Kissimmee Florida was still just a cattle town and Orlando at best was full of orange groves. No magic kingdom had yet to forever change that natural landscape, so the natural rock formations, and the ability to see seven states called to us, the children of the red dirt country.
More than a few years back, I carried my own sons there, and they enjoyed it as well, proving that some things never seem to totally go out of style. We have owned the bird house since that trip, and countless birds have been born, and lived in it. It does show some signs of wear but still shelters yet another summer of new birds.
What a legacy Garnet Carter, a man who's first name is the same as a type of rock, has left us with. It brings memories of simpler times, road trips, and cheaper gasoline, and reminds us all to look for beauty in the natural world, such as the rock formations in his wife's beloved garden.
See Rock City!
Old Captain sends.
Ahoy Capt. Scotty! I first visited Rock City in 1990 when I was in Huntsville, AL, attending school for the E-6A TACAMO aircraft. After moving to the Huntsville area in 2009 I took Lydia for a visit in combination with a trip to Ruby Falls and Point Lookout Park. In 2010 we shared the magic of Rock City with a French exchange we were entertaining, and we visited again in 2012 with our nephew who was in Alabama for flight school. It's one of my favorite places to visit and take visitors too! We too have a SEE ROCK CITY birdhouse, but to date it has remained in the house as a decoration.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your story!
Duane...and Lydia