Mark Dwyer started by pulling off a few rotten shakes. The imitation-wood siding on the Walden's Ridge Civic Center at 2501 Fairmount Pike had covered the building since 1967. By the time the Walden's Ridge Civic League decided to deal with it, tar paper showed through the gaps and animals had moved into the attic. "Birds and squirrels were living in the attic, and the tar paper was showing through the rotted shakes outside," Dwyer, the League's president, told the Signal Mountain Mirror.
Under the shakes he found the original pine board-and-batten, still in place after more than 50 years under a cover. That find mattered because the Tennessee Historical Commission was reviewing the building for the National Register of Historic Places at the time. The National Park Service granted the listing on January 26, 2026. The League held the news until its America250 Birthday Bash on June 13. The recognition is federal. The work behind it came from volunteers, and those volunteers are still at it this fall.
What the new siding is actually made of
The League isn't patching the old covering. Volunteers are taking it off completely and replacing it with white oak board-and-batten in the same pattern as the original. The Historical Commission approved the plan, so the building can return to its first look without hurting its historic standing. According to Dwyer, the auditorium has been under volunteer renovation for about four years. Taking the shakes off has also exposed structural and design details the 1967 covering had hidden.
"We were afraid they would deny us approval as a historical site, but we had to do something. We could not wait," Dwyer said. "The commission approved everything we were doing, even replacing the old seats inside the building."
The Commission's own assessment lists the features that carried the nomination. Most of them are inside the building, so a careful exterior repair was the only way to keep them:
"The retention of important features that defined the property historically and facilitated its use as a locally significant resource remain throughout. These include the original wood floors and stage, stage accordion doors, auditorium walls, seat/stage arrangement, interior doors, and wainscoting."
Other changes have come along with the siding. A replica of the Liberty Bell, new landscaping and a new sign over the door now stand at the front of the building. An Eagle Scout candidate is planting native species on the grounds for an Eagle project. Before the work started, the League photographed a painted fiddler that now survives only as a faded "ghost" on the front of the auditorium, above siding the League itself called badly deteriorated.
A hall built by the same people who built the services
How the building gets fixed now follows directly from how it was built. Mountaintop residents put up the auditorium with their own hands in 1921. It opened formally to the public on November 29, 1923, and served as the auditorium, library and cafeteria for the Fairmount Grammar School. It also hosted Sunday school, a polling station, a rabies clinic and a Boy Scout troop.
The League grew out of that school's parent-teacher association at a time when the mountain had no utilities, no police, no fire protection and few good roads. Its records give two founding dates. The National Register narrative says the League officially organized on October 4, 1926, which would put its 100th anniversary on today's date. A summary on the same website says 1929, with incorporation in 1930. The League's News & Photos page thanks Senators Bo Watson and Randy McNally and Representatives Patsy Hazlewood and Cameron Sexton for a Tennessee Senate proclamation "honoring 100 years."
Whichever year you use, the list of what the League did before Walden had a town government reads like a public works department's list:
- Brought clean water to the mountain and formed the Walden's Ridge Utility District, WRUD
- Started the first volunteer fire department, WRES
- Provided policing and brought in electric lines
- Built, marked and maintained roads, and helped get the W Road and Taft Highway finished
- Provided space for Walden's first Town Halls
The school closed in 1938, and the building's future looked uncertain. The League then pressed the Hamilton County Department of Education to deed the building and its land to WRCL. That's why the hall belongs to a 501(c)3 with a 10-member board of directors and not to a government. The board oversees a 3.46-acre property that includes the civic center, the women's guild building, a communications building, a covered pavilion, a Boy Scout stage, a soccer field, a walking track and a playground. All of it is available to rent through the League's website.
Where the Mountain Opry went
For years, plenty of people on the mountain knew the building mainly as the Mountain Opry. The League's own history page opens by asking that question. The Opry started there in 1979 and ran weekly bluegrass and folk shows for more than 40 years. The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported in September 2020 that the Friday show at the Civic Center had ended its run that March. A revived monthly Opry then started at the Mountain Arts Community Center. By 2021, the League's history says, the series had moved to Bachman Community Center.
That's still where to find it. Bachman Community Center, at 2815 Anderson Pike in Walden, lists bluegrass and food on the fourth Saturday of each month starting at 6 p.m. This month the fourth Saturday is October 24. Losing the Opry left the Civic Center without a weekly draw. Since then, the League has built its year around four seasonal events: Tell It on the Mountain storytelling in spring, the Birthday Bash in summer, the Smoke on the Mountain BBQ contest in autumn and Merry Mountain Christmas in winter.
The calendar from here to December
The autumn event happened yesterday. Smoke on the Mountain ran October 3 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Civic Center with food, music and BBQ tasting passes. A contest listing put the competitor entry fee at $250, with cash prizes and trophies. No results had been posted as of this morning.
Most of what's left on the League's calendar for the year asks people to show up and help, not just attend. Here's how the Civic Center's dates fit with other events on and near the mountain.
| Date | What | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu., Oct. 15, 7 p.m. | WRCL quarterly and annual membership meeting, followed by a volunteer-appreciation chili supper | Civic Center auditorium | Regular meetings fall on the third Thursday |
| Thu., Oct. 15, 7–8 p.m. | Open String Jam | MACC's Ridge Theater | Same night as the WRCL meeting |
| Sat., Oct. 17, 3–5 p.m. | Wings to Soar's Flying Raptor fundraiser for HappiNest Raptor Rescue | Bachman Community Center | Suggested donation $10 per person or $25 per family |
| Thu., Oct. 22 | Rick Bragg | MACC | Sold out |
| Sat., Oct. 24, 6 p.m. | Bluegrass and food | Bachman Community Center | Fourth-Saturday schedule |
| Sat., Oct. 31, 9 a.m.–noon | Lions Club Fall Shred Day | Signal Mountain Town Hall | |
| Nov. 14–15 | Fifth annual Signal Mountain Christkindlmarkt | MACC | 10 a.m.–7 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m. Sunday |
| Sat., Dec. 5, 11 a.m. | Decorate for Merry Mountain Christmas, bonfire at 2 p.m. | Civic Center | Rain date Dec. 6 |
| Fri., Dec. 11 | Private event | Civic Center | Closed to the public |
| Fri., Dec. 18 | Merry Mountain Christmas | Civic Center | Date from the July minutes |
Two of the December dates are worth checking before you put them on the fridge. The live calendar sets decorating for December 5 with a December 6 rain date. The League's July 16 meeting minutes had planned December 4, with December 5 as the rain date. The December 18 date for Merry Mountain Christmas appears only in those minutes, with no start time. The decorating day is a real work session. Volunteers move and set up the Christmas trees, hang garland, wreaths and lights, and then stay for a wiener roast.
The siding still needs Saturday mornings
The restoration isn't finished. The League's calendar lists the Big Re-Siding Project as in progress and asks for Saturday-morning volunteers to remove siding, make repairs and handle wiring. The July 16 minutes reported the south side was nearly done. No announcement since then has said the whole building is complete.
The October 15 meeting is the easiest way to get involved. It's at 7 p.m. in the auditorium that the Historical Commission described by its original floors, stage and wainscoting, and the chili supper afterward is the League's thank-you to the people who have been doing the work. For Saturday shifts and rentals, the Walden's Ridge Civic League calendar has contact details, and Dwyer's number on the League's recent notices is 423-618-3060. The full Register story, including the 1923 opening and the 1938 deed, is in the Signal Mountain Mirror's July 31 report and on the League's History page.
Walden's Ridge has a 105-year-old hall still being repaired by the people who use it. If you own a home near Fairmount Pike, part of what you have is the community that keeps that hall standing. If you're curious what that means for the value of your own place, Marcus Holt Homes can walk you through it, calmly and with real numbers. Request a free home valuation.
