Rock City Gardens is one of the south’s oldest and most popular natural attractions. Just six miles from downtown Chattanooga, Tenn., Rock City is an enchanted, 4,100-foot walking trail showcasing soaring rock formations and lush gardens that include over 400 species of wildflowers and plants. Other features include the Swing-A-Long Bridge that spans nearly 200 feet and the lookout point at Lover’s Leap where you can “See Seven States” while standing over the 140-foot waterfall that cascades down Lookout Mountain. More than half a million people from all over the world visit this nostalgic attraction each year, making memories worth repeating.
The attraction opened in 1932 by Garnet and Frieda Carter, and was made known partially due to the barn advertising campaign Carter initiated. A sign painter named Clark Byers 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 1930’s, more travelers than ever had seen Rock City Gardens.
I am not sure when I first acquired this set of photos- obviously it is an incomplete set seeing that I have only 9 of the 10.
Artpark had a long history prior to becoming the first state park devoted to the arts. The First Nations people originally lived in this area and a burial mound dating over 2000 years old is located on the grounds of Artpark. Explorers Father Louis Hennepin, O.F.M. and René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, landed on the site in 1678. The first cabin built by white settlers was completed in 1720. By 1764 there was a British fort and a cable run railway that was used to ferry supplies up the escarpment. The 1800s saw the building of a large estate (destroyed by fire in 1965), a suspension bridge linking Lewiston & Queenston was built, and a sandstone quarry operated on the land. By the middle of the 20th century the land was largely used as a dump for both Chemical companies and the state.
The state took over the land and what is now known as Artpark (official name is Earl W. Brydges Artpark State Park) was officially opened in 1974.
(back of postcard) ARTPARK, Lewiston NY. An exciting two-hundred acre visual and performing arts center, located six miles from Niagara Falls and operated under the jurisdiction of the New York State Office of Parks and Recreation.
From the Kickstarter campaign created by Artpark and Company:
In the summer of 1979 Artist Gene Davis (whose estate is held by the Smithsonian American Art Museum) installed an Artwork titled, Niagara ’79. It came to be known as The Painted Parking Lot and it was incredible. Gene Davis spent weeks hand rolling sixty, 2-foot wide by 364-foot long lines in 9 different colors. This artwork was widely covered by the media and everyone in the community came out to experience it. At over 43,000 square feet, The Guinness Book of World Record’s hailed it as the largest painting in the world at the time.
Now that same parking lot is covered in black top with standard white parking lines. With permission from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Artpark is launching a campaign to recreate Gene Davis’s Niagara ’79 in that same parking lot using his exact design. Artpark has been working with Sherwin and Williams and will use the same industrial paints found on the runways at airports, in specially formulated colors, to make this project come to fruition. Armed with 18 inch paint rollers and miles of masking tape Artpark Adventure Staff and a group of volunteer professional painters will spend the month of May 2017 hand rolling lines just as Gene Davis did. JOIN US!
Drawn by Buffalo based artist Julie Lewizky (back of postcard) ARTPARK, Lewiston NY. An exciting two-hundred acre visual and performing arts center, located six miles from Niagara Falls and operated under the jurisdiction of the New York State Office of Parks and Recreation.
(back of postcard) ARTPARK, Lewiston NY. An exciting two-hundred acre visual and performing arts center, located six miles from Niagara Falls and operated under the jurisdiction of the New York State Office of Parks and Recreation.
The big wooden building (the Art-El) was demolished after nearly 40 years of use. It was both a fun and scary structure for children and I spent many days running amok on it.
