In celebration of Rock City’s 80th Anniversary year, several barns are being repainted this spring. In the last month, two barns were repainted by Jim Byers, son of Rock City’s original barn painter, Clark Byers, as well as Don Parris. A repaint of a barn storage facility is also scheduled for Thursday at 8:30 a.m.
Jim Byers and his father painted many of the 900 barns that read “See Rock City.” Jim started working with Clark at the age of 14 in 1954 and traveled from Milwaukee to Miami and everywhere in between. “I’ve enjoyed every barn I’ve painted,” said Jim. “I can’t pinpoint just one.”
Jim stopped painting Rock City barns in 1966 when he got married and did not want to travel as much. About five years ago, Don Parris started painting Rock City barns again with Jim, though the two have been painting together for 48 years. “I feel better when I am outside painting,” said Don. “When we get on the barn, we don’t talk much. We know what the other is going to do and we just paint.”
The two barns painted earlier this month are owned by Wilma Jean Eblen (the barn located on I-40 toward Knoxville) and the Henderson family (the barn on Little River Canyon Rd., Ft. Payne).
“The property the barn sits on has been in my family since the 1900’s and the barn was later built in 1930,” said Wilma Jean Eblen. “The barn has Rock City painted on one side and Ruby Falls on the other. People always take pictures of it and I truly don’t mind if they do so.”
“The barn near Ft. Payne belongs to my husband’s grandparents, Howard and Foy Henderson,” said Michelle Henderson. “One day Howard was approached by a man he didn’t know who asked if he could paint his barn for free. Howard was skeptical and asked what the catch was. The man replied, ‘no catch – I just want to paint See Rock City on it’.” Howard was ecstatic and soon realized this stranger from Rock City had quite the eye for advertising. At the time, there was an amusement park right down the street from the barn named Canyon Land Park, and the majority of the traffic heading to the park would pass this barn on their way.
“There are memories in that ‘See Rock City Barn’ that make it so special…coming down the road when I top the hill and see the barn, I know I’m home. And it feels good,” said Mrs. Henderson.
In 1935, Rock City began its world famous barn advertising campaign. At one time there were almost 900 barns in the Midwest and Southeast that read “SEE ROCK CITY.” Due to the Highway Beautification Act which called for strict regulations on roadside signage, the number of barns has been reduced dramatically.
Located only six miles from downtown Chattanooga, Tenn., Rock City is a 14-acre natural and scenic attraction with unique rock formations and gardens atop Lookout Mountain.