Significance of iconic Rock City Barn in Bryson City Unbeknownst to many a passerby as they enter the town of Bryson City from the east, there lies a structural icon to an earlier time of automotive travel. Although a bit dilapidated, the old “Rock City” barn on US 19 East is a proud relic of a bygone era. While the significance is lost on many, the fact that the barn still exists at all is amazing in itself considering that only around 10 percent of the original Rock City barns remain. It was in 1935 that Garnet Carter, the founder of Rock City Gardens, a tourist attraction atop Lookout Mountain near Chattanooga, Tennessee, came up with the idea to advertise on barns. Three decades later, Clark Byers, somewhat of a barnyard Rembrandt, had painted around 900 barns along 12,000 miles of rural highways in 19 states. Byers cruised the highways and back roads searching for barns and willing barn owners who received a complete and complimentary paint job in exchange for placement of the advertisement. In addition, owners received Rock City trinkets such as thermometers and bathmats to supplement the paint job.