John Shearer: Tennyson Dickinson Says Family Has Enjoyed Owning Lake Winnepesaukah For 100 Years

For many Chattanooga area residents, the Lake Winnepesaukah Amusement Park has not just been the community’s backyard but also like a nearby mini magic land to come for fun on special occasions.

Although smaller in scope and size than Dollywood, Six Flags Over Georgia and the mammoth and faraway Walt Disney World, its convenience in distance to locals and its rides that are also fun and stimulating and with shorter waiting times have helped maintain its popularity.

And while it has continued to occupy the attention of youngsters and their families in the present, the past and a feeling of nostalgia are also regularly on the minds of visitors due to the park’s long history.

That is especially true this year, as the park is celebrating its 100^th anniversary. And that has park officials as excited as they hope visitors are when exiting such iconic rides as the Cannon Ball wooden roller coaster or the Boat Chute.

“What I love the most is talking to customers and hearing them share their stories about memories being made with their grandparents, and those grandparents’ memories of coming here with their grandparents and the memories that are passed down,” said current Lake Winnepesaukah director and treasurer Tennyson Dickinson when asked what she enjoys the most about working there.

For Ms. Dickinson, who thinks her mother named her after the author, the memories made have not just been passed down among the visitors and customers, but also among the owners. That is because she is the fourth generation to run the facility since her great-grandparents, Carl Orville Dixon and Minette Hiener Dixon, opened it with a somewhat far-fetched dream in mind back in 1925.

And during much of that time, women have uniquely been at the helm simply due to circumstances after founder Mr. Dixon’s untimely death in 1933.

“It’s how I grew up,” said Ms. Dickinson. “My grandmother (Evelyn White) worked here. My aunt (Tootsie Harless) worked here. I don’t think it was an intentionally pioneering thing for women in the workplace. It is just our story.”

Ms. Tennyson now heads the day-to-day operations after working alongside in recent years her mother, Adrienne Rhodes, who now lives in a retirement facility but still maintains a personal interest in Lake Winnie, and her younger sister, Talley Rhodes Green, who died in 2024.

An enthusiasm was obviously still present as the 1976 Girls Preparatory School graduate took time on June 12 to sit down and reminisce. But for her, it was also an active interview before and after meeting me in the landmark brick headquarters building reportedly built by a brick mason who years ago owed the family a favor. She also took me around in a golf cart as she checked on the park, discussed her favorite ride – the Wave Swinger -- and kindly greeted customers she met.

A few days before the interview, she said she had stopped and spoken to a family from Illinois, who had come to the park after researching it online. They even decided to spend a second day there as well, she added.

“It’s quite frequently we will meet customers from outside Chattanooga who say it is a wonderful secret,” she said. “We don’t want it to be a secret, but we are happy they discovered us.”

Although she has lived much of the park’s history, Ms. Tennyson has brushed up on her knowledge in recent months, as she provided text and photos for a paperback book that is part of the Arcadia Books’ Images of America local history series and is on sale by the park. She was also involved with the development of some colorful and historical information plaques placed at seven different iconic rides and sites, including the Boat Chute and the Cannon Ball.

Some familiar and significant songs from the different decades in the park’s history are also played on speakers at the park in a specially developed playlist with the help of US 101, and the park is also having various special observances during the year. That included a special celebration this past Tuesday that brought out several North Georgia politicians.

The park is also trying to create a yearlong montage of photos and is encouraging residents to send memorable photos of a special time at Lake Winnepesaukah through the website or a special QR Code.

Although the park is now the scene of plenty of noise and activity, including the various anniversary celebrations, it was once a quieter spot. The spring-fed lake was created from an earthen dam the Native Americans in the area had constructed, and it was also used by Civil War soldiers for encampment before becoming the site of a gristmill operation.

The property, which at one time was called Green’s Lake, had also been a hunting and fishing club and was even operated by the city water company a few years before Carl and Minette Dixon bought it in 1924, one old article said.

Mr. Dixon, who was then 35, had owned a coal and ice business as well as an auto repair shop that reflected his natural interest in cars and a racing career that included competing in the prestigious Indianapolis 500 in the race’s early days. Perhaps realizing the passion of his avocation, he and his wife were naturally more attuned to the pleasure side of life as a possible way to make a living.

Despite what Ms. Dickinson said were naysayers among acquaintances, the Dixons thought the lake property might draw others desiring pleasure and recreation, so they opened it at the beginning of the summer season in 1925 for public boating, fishing and swimming.

Ms. Dixon had researched the Native American language and found the word, Winnepesaukah, which means “beautiful lake of the highlands” or “bountiful waters” and chose that word for the park. Although a Lake Winnepesaukee with a slightly different spelling exists in New Hampshire, the research was the motivation for the name, Ms. Dickinson said. And, of course, since it is a long name, the more colloquial and Chattanooga-friendly Lake Winnie has also stuck over the years.

On opening day, some 5,000 people reportedly came to the park, so that got the couple thinking of additional ways to enhance the property. As a result, Mr. Dixon’s mind started racing as fast as the engines of his cars, and he and his wife thought of additional attractions.

What was called the South’s largest swimming pool opened next to the lake the next year after swimming was done in the lake the first year, and it operated until 1964, although it still remains below some rides built over it.

The Boat Chute opened in 1927 after being built and designed by Mr. Dixon. Considered the last remaining mill-driven chute ride of this type in North America, it features a long tunnel that boats slowly move through with the help of the mechanical power. Riders are then carried up to a high point before the boats came back down into the water with a big and loud splash.

Despite that last effect, it is perhaps the tunnel ride that has created the most noise and buzz over the years. Ms. Tennyson jokingly said the family has received numerous stories over the years of people enjoying their first kiss and other displays of affection in the Boat Chute tunnel.

Other early activities included roller skating, baseball, miniature golf on one of the nation’s early courses, actual car racing on a track, dancing and even unusual performance acts in those simpler pre-World War II days that drew crowds before television.

In 1934, for example, the large-sized Norris “Corky” Kellam – who described himself as the human cork – managed to stay afloat in the lake on his own for more than two days. And in 1939, Sonora Carver and her horse, Red Lips, dove off a 40-foot, specially built tower into the lake as a more-than-weeklong attraction.

Despite all the joy that came from the park and the Dixons seeing a far-fetched dream fulfilled, its early days did have a sad moment for the family. That occurred when Mr. Dixon died in late April 28, 1933, after he was filing some roller skates while getting ready for the opening of the season and had an acute asthma attack.

But his wife carried on and ran the park before her death in 1958, and only child Evelyn White, who died in 2002 at age 90, did as well and took a special interest in the park’s landscaping. Also following in their footsteps were Evelyns’s daughters, Adrienne Rhodes and Tootsie Harless, and Ms. Rhodes’ daughters and some of their extended family, including Adrienne’s husband, Buddy Rhodes.

Ms. Dickinson also said that Ms. Dixon had served on an important amusement park owners association committee when usually just men held those positions.

According to Ms. Dickinson’s book, rides added over the years, some of which were discontinued or morphed into later versions, have included an original Ferris wheel (the first of three) and early bumper-style cars in 1941, the Swing Ride in 1942, the Fly-O-Plane ride using former simulator planes, a miniature train ride called the Little Royal Palm in 1950, the Little Dipper roller coaster in 1951, kiddie boats in 1952, the Whirl-O ride in 1953, Tilt-a-Whirl in 1955, the Show Boat paddle wheel boat in 1956 and the Chairplane swing ride in 1958.

Others have included hand-powered train cars in 1959, a kiddie helicopter ride in 1959, the Roadway motorized kiddie car ride in 1960, the tower slide and Mad Mouse roller coaster also in 1960, the Jolly Caterpillar and Paratrooper rides in 1961, the Iron Horse train ride in 1964, a skyride across the lake beginning in 1965 and which was the forerunner to the Alpine Way, antique cars in 1966, the giant Cannon Ball roller coaster in 1967, the Spider in 1968, the Castle over the old swimming pool in 1969, and the Mystic Mansion, the Indy 500 and the Himalaya rides in the early 1970s, among others that followed in later decades.

Ms. Dickinson, who said she grew up in a home on the Lake Winnepesaukah grounds, said the large Cannon Ball has probably remained the park’s most popular ride. It was built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Co.

A carousel was installed before the park’s 1968 season opening. It had come from Atlanta’s Lakewood Park after being dismantled and was reconstructed here. According to a newspaper article by Irby Park Jr. in the News-Free Press at the time, the Atlanta amusement park operator had said building a new pavilion for it would be too cost prohibitive, so he disposed of it, much to the disappointment of some Atlantans.

A new pavilion designed by Betts Engineering and constructed by Raines Bros. and R.E. Williams Co. was built to house it here. The ride, which was also constructed by the Philadelphia Toboggan Co. in 1916, included horses and chariots carved by European artisans from select pine. An old calliope music-playing instrument was also part of the ride brought from Atlanta.

The Mad Mouse, which sat by the lake and was known for its front wheels that sat back and gave riders the sensation they were going off the tracks on a sharp turn, was discontinued after Ms. Dickinson said the company that made it went out of business, and they could no longer get parts. They did keep the sign and have used it during the Halloween Lake WinnepeSPOOKAH events and activities.

The park also has a longtime tradition of a fireworks display every July 4. And that includes an extra big one she says they have planned for this year.

Music concerts have also been a fixture at the park. Some of the better-known guests to play over the years have included Archie Campbell, June Carter, Bill Anderson, the Osborne Brothers, Tom T. Hall, Waylon Jennings, Loretta Lynn, Crystal Gayle, Dottie West, Lorrie Morgan, George Strait, 38 Special, Blake Shelton, Rascal Flatts, Randy Travis, Tammy Wynette, Porter Wagoner and Charlie Daniels. Some, like Blake Shelton, appeared before hitting the big time.

A dog that used to hang around when the Cannon Ball was being constructed and ran around after it began operating resulted in a song by Tom T. Hall called “Chattanooga Dog.” In it, he talks about a dog chasing a kiddie train and compares it to his futile effort trying to win the affection of an acquaintance.

Another attraction over the years has also been the lake’s carp, which the visitors help feed.

The park has also kept the longtime tradition of not charging for parking and allowing free picnicking, Ms. Dickinson said. Many businesses and others have also had annual company picnics there over the years, she added.

Although the park is celebrating its 100^th anniversary this year, it actually had a small interlude of not operating fully. After the 1974 season, Ms. White, the daughter of the founders and who had been a GPS student during the park’s early years, announced she was ready to retire, and the park was closed.

This brought sadness and an outpouring of memories from many in the community, although Tootsie Harless and her husband, Butch, did end up operating a kiddie park on the north end with the small children’s rides during that period.

Although not necessarily related, this was also at a time when Six Flags Over Georgia was becoming popular in Atlanta for Chattanoogans, Opryland amusement park had opened in Nashville before later closing, and Dollywood was still the smaller Silver Dollar City park in Pigeon Forge with much less marketing in Chattanooga than Dollywood does today.

The sounds of all the rides and families enjoying the day did eventually return to Lake Winnepesaukah. In early 1977, a newspaper article announced that J.D. Floyd of Lebanon, Tn., who headed Fun Town Inc., would begin leasing the park on a 20-year lease and reopen it as Lake Winnepesaukah Fun Town.

That did last for two decades, but in the Lake Winnepesaukah history book, Ms. Dickinson writes that the family had grown a little frustrated with the way the park was being operated compared to their standards, so they took it back over in the late 1990s.

The Lake Winnie “SOAKya” park opened in 2013, and the Lake WinnepeSPOOKAH has also been a popular Halloween season draw with rides and activities enhanced to scare youngsters in a fun way.

Ms. Dickinson, who shyly admitted she coined the names of those two attractions to rhyme with Lake Winnepesaukah, returned a year or so later from living out of town and has been helping with the operation since then.

She said the family plans to keep operating the attraction and focusing on fun and, of course, tight safety checks amid one or two minor accidents that have made news over the years during the thousands of hours of operating. She added that a number of returning employees have also helped with staffing issues in this era when all businesses have trouble finding entry-level workers.

She said Lake Winnepesaukah is also one of about only 12 amusement parks in the country still family run, but she believes it still has an important place in the recreational lives of mostly Chattanooga area and North Georgia residents.

“We have a wonderful base of local customers and people coming from all over,” she proudly said.

And this year, the 100^th anniversary has been a special time to remember all that, she added. “We have definitely been celebrating it this season,” she said with a smile.

The Dixons might be smiling down as well. Some might say their and their descendants’ work helping others enjoy play has turned out OK for everyone.

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Jcshearer2@comcast.net