Patriotic Palace – Abandoned Amusement Park in TN

Patriotic Palace, TNAbandoned places are some of my favorite photographic subjects, and the Patriotic Palace was not a disappointment.  Through the dirt and neglect, you can usually imagine what a place used to be, but there seems to be more mystery surrounding this one, an  I have so far been unable to reconstruct it’s history.

When my family and I passed this Abandoned Amusement park on our way to Chattanooga, we made a note to stop and visit it on our way home.  The Patriotic Palace is located on Interstate 75, exit 141, a lonely and sad reminder of….what?  I’m really not sure, as I have been unable to find any specific information regarding this amusement park.

And not that I spent a crap ton of time on google or anything, but the few searches I did on this lonely little “amusement park” turned up nothing but posts by other people who stopped to take photos, just as I did, or stories of the adjacent Fireworks Superstore burning down in 2014.

If anyone knows the history of the amusement park side of this place, I would love to hear it.In the mean time, here are several photos

Patriotic Palace, TN

Patriotic Palace, TN

Patriotic Palace, TN

Ferris Wheel Close up, Patriotic Palace, TN

All of my Friends are Flakes

Frosty in July??  I passed this “cool” guy at The Rock Shoppe on my way home from work one day, and made a point to go back and take a picture of him.  What is better than a snowman on a 104 degree July day in Michigan??  I love it.
First stop before publishing this post was to visit The Rock Shoppe‘s website and I see that they have a song about rocks, by Ann Arbor’s own Dick Siegel.  If you have ever had a kid that collected rocks, be sure to take a listen.  The following lyrics made me laugh out loud:
I got rocks, rocks in my pocket, had em in my pocket since I was a kid
I’m now having flashbacks of requesting my son to empty his pockets of rocks before he came in the house.  This is a good thing.  The flashbacks, I mean.  And the rocks.
I will be sure to keep an eye on this corner lot (Gotfredson and N. Territorial) – if there is a Snowman in July, what should I expect in January?