Rock City’s Been ‘Rockin’ for a Long Time

If you’ve traveled the Southeast much, you’ve probably seen a sign – perhaps on a barn roof – urging you to “See Rock City.” Today Rock City, one of the foremost landmarks in the Chattanooga, Tenn. area, marks its 80^th anniversary. Who knew? Last time I was there, it didn’t look a day over 75!

Actually, promotional materials for the park, located on a brow of Lookout Mountain, Ga., tell us its massive rock formations are estimated to be more than 200 million years old. That’s a lot of anniversaries! How do they know it’s that old? Maybe they found a rock with a “born on” date.

Views from Rock City, 1,700 feet up, are amazing.

The Rock City website includes a motto, “Created by God and enhanced by man….” I like that, because I believe it’s true. Over its 80 years aka Rock City, the site’s natural beauty has received an almost-theme park type treatment. For children of all ages, Fairyland Caverns and Mother Goose Village feature black-lighted scenes of favorite fairy tale characters. There’s a swinging bridge for those that like to put into motion a view literally set in stone.

Special glasses allow visitors to gaze at seven states from the edge of Lover’s Leap. (Did you know the state borders aren’t officially marked in chalk or paint?)

Bottom line, the natural setting has been there a long time, well before anyone thought of turning it into a tourist attraction. More than 150 years ago, someone might have peered from there into some Civil War skirmishes. Before that Cherokee Indians might have reveled in the mountain vistas. Who knows what other natural inhabitants enjoyed those sights prior to that.

To me, visiting places like Rock City gives evidence of God’s creative work. Blue skies and billowy clouds looking down on lush vegetation, stately rock formations, even a waterfall. We couldn’t design and build something like that.

And you can’t convince me it’s the result of cosmic chaos. Things naturally move from order to disorder, not the other way around. You should see my desk most of the time!

Psalm 111:2-4 declares: “Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them. Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever. He has caused his wonders to be remembered….”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.