Three & Done in Chattanooga, TN

We're currently on a "southern" U.S. road trip from NH to FL and posting about sites seen & foods sampled along the way. This post is about a stop in Chattanooga, TN.

On our travels, we look for local attractions. Sometimes, we find off-the-beaten path ones and (better-yet) free as in the last post. And sometimes not, as when we visited 3 of "most popular" tourist traps destinations here. It was a package deal and definitely a been there and done that or a once thrice and done experience.

Imagine seeing an underground 145-foot high underground waterfall after walking a half-mile underground in a cave estimated to be 30 million years old. That describes Ruby Falls in Lookout Mountain outside Chattanooga, TN. This National Historic Landmark is the tallest and deepest underground U.S. waterfall open to the public (yes, it has lights).

The Ruby Falls tour takes slightly over an hour, and is all underground. Visitors descend 1,120 feet by elevator in timed tours, be warned it's a very well-packed trip down. In terms of comparison, you go as about as far down as the Empire State Building is high. (FYI, there's no rest rooms in the cave, but they're in the gift store which, of course, comes before the elevator line-up.)  

When the elevator stops (and it does), a guide meets the group and leads a ½-hour paced walk through the cave noting many of the formations along the way. (It was difficult to capture many. We were moving along since other groups were also down below.)

The passageways narrow in some spots and they can be slippery. Caves drip because of water seepage in the ground above. Walking is OK, but there’s no room for wheelchairs or strollers in the cave.

Stalactite and stalagmite are mineral deposits found in caves. A stalactite (from Greek stalasso "to drip” meaning “that which drips”) is a type of formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves; stalactite has a letter c, like ceiling, where it forms. A corresponding formation on the cave floor is called a stalagmite.

We really had to watch our heads as some overhangs are quite painfully low as a woman in our group learned. It's not dark in the cave as over 500 lights illuminate the pathways to Ruby Falls. (It's still not like being outdoors, can you tell caves are not my thing?)

On the plus side, no air conditioning is needed in a cave and we learned that the year-round temperature in the Ruby Falls cave is 60 degrees. Add some humidity, and the cave temperature is like 70 degrees. (Definitely cooler than outside when we visited.)  

The Falls has built-in crowd control as each tour group enters. (Your group is one of several in the cave at one time). Here's how —  when the light show starts (this is definitely a tourist sight) — lights illuminating the falls change from blue to red to white with music — when the lights go down, it's time  to go. Of course, there's time to see the falls and take pictures first. The guide says that after the falls experience, you’re a “survivor.”  

WAIT, there's more because now, there’s no need to wait to share your experience. As of 2018, Ruby Falls has high-speed Wi-Fi installed within its cave. You can use social media to share your experience immediately while there. (Doesn't everyone want to do that?)

Ruby & Leo Lambert

How it came about: In 1905, the natural entrance to Lookout Mountain Cave was closed during the construction of a railway tunnel. In the 1920s, Leo Lambert, a chemist and cave fan (spelunker) who thought he could re-open the cave as a tourist attraction, formed a company, and purchased land on the side of Lookout Mountain above Lookout Mountain Cave. In 1928, drilling began through the limestone when a small passageway (how small— 18 in. high x 4 ft wide). Lambert crawled 17 hours to explore the opening finding a formerly hidden cave and waterfall. On a return trip to the cave, he took his wife Ruby, and named the falls after her. Tours began in December 1929. A year later, the Ruby Falls cave was expanded and opened and the two caves were shown on separate tours. The falls cave was more popular and the lower cave trip ended in 1935. 

The entrance building, Cavern Castle, was built to resemble a 15th century Irish castle. Constructed from limestone excavated from the elevator shaft, it  was dubbed the “World’s Most Magnificent Cave Entrance” when completed.

Ruby Falls has over a half million visitors worldwide each year. It's a very unique experience, but once down was quite enough for me; I prefer above ground.

If you like rocks — BIG ones than Rock City on Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, TN, is the place to visit, just don't try to move any while there. You might hurt yourself.

Besides rocks, you should also like gnomes because there are a lot of them (over 50) in Rock City. The history of Rock City as a world-famous tourist attraction dates back after the U.S. Great Depression. There are gnomes in the photo below...can you see them?

The trail leads through a variety of unique and bizarre rock formations, including the 1,000 short tons Balanced Rock and Fat Man's Squeeze. 

One of the strangest attractions  here is Fairyland Caverns — it’s a cave and the oddest one you may never want to see. Visitors pass through natural and man-made tunnels decorated with sculptures of children's' characters. There are even more strange little gnomes interspersed with weirdly back-lit scenes from fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and children’s books. These are set into blacklist recesses along a dimly lit pathway and really seem more scary than amusing. Seriously, this path was so dark in places, that I was not only thankful Grenville had his small flashlight along, but very happy to see the exit.

Since its start, Rock City has claimed that it's possible to “See 7 States” — TN, KY. VA, SC, NC, GA, and AL from an outcrop called Lover’s Leap, from which no one has jumped. Some scientist have disputed this claim noting that visitors can only see a few states. Rock City has ignored this and provides arrows pointing out the sight lines toward the states. 

Frieda & Garnet Carter and gnome

How it came about: In 1932, Garnet Carter, Lookout Mountain real estate developer (also inventor of miniature golf which he called Tom Thumb Golf) hit on the idea of developing a residential neighborhood on the top of Lookout Mountain. The community was to be called Fairyland, after his wife Frieda’s long-time interest in European folklore. 

The 700 acres of Fairyland encompassed Rock City as Frieda set out to develop the property into a huge rock garden. She marked a trail that went around the giant rock formations, collected wildflowers and other plants and transplanted them along the trail. This gardening was supplemented by imported German statues of gnomes and famous fairytale characters along points on the trail. Carter realized his wife had made something that people might pay to see. And, yet another Lookout Mountain tourist attraction was created.

Rock City officially opened in May 1932 but business was slow as advertising was difficult after the Depression and the mountain-top attraction wasn’t exactly where visitors would stop and look. In 1935, Carter hired Clark Byers, to travel the highways and offer to paint a farmer’s barn if Byers could paint — SEE ROCK CITY on its roof. Soon painted barn signs were seen through the Southeast and Midwest U.S.  

Advertising worked and by the end of the 1930s, travelers started visiting Rock City Gardens. Many barn signs are disappearing now, but these bird house replicas are sold in the Rock City gift shop. 

The Incline Railway on Lookout Mountain is often called America’s Most Amazing Mile and, while it's a short ride at 15 minutes each way, it's a fun trip 9 (no standing on this train). There's an observation deck on Lookout Mountain with food and gift shops, as expected. Plan an hour for the whole experience. 

This funicular (see below) rail system, which has been operating since 1895, is powered by two 100-horsepower winches developed by the Otis Elevator Company. The railway runs on a 1-mile long single track system, except for the passing loop at the midway point  which allows two counter-balanced trains to operate at the same time. It’s both a National Historic site and Mechanical Engineering Landmark sight as of 1991.

A funicular is a mode of transportation which uses a cable traction for movement on steep inclined slopes. A funicular railway employs a pair of passenger vehicles which are pulled on a slope by the same cable which loops over a pulley wheel at the upper end of a track.

The trolley-style cars climb through the area near Lookout Mountain at a 72.7% grade, straight up making it one of the world's steepest passenger railways. (If you want to ride a steeper passenger railway, Scenic World in Switzerland takes the rails as having the world’s steepest —at 52 degrees it has a mind-boggling 128 per cent incline.) We had great views from the observation windows on our ride as well as panoramic views from the observation tower at the Incline’s top station at Lookout Mountain.

The Incline Railway opened in November 1895 and is the second of two incline railways constructed on Lookout Mountain. The first was the Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain Railway, which ran from 1886 to 1898. The current railway is operated by the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority. 

As stated at the start of this lengthy post, these 3 attractions are tourist stops and, as travelers, we're tourists too. We bought a combo ticket and were able to get to all the same day; they're within a short drive of one another on Lookout Mountain. We've seen them once and that was enough for us (even if we return to the area another time).