Remembering Canyon Land
By Amie Martin
Canyon Land was an amusement park located on the top of Lookout Mountain in present-day Little River Canyon National Preserve. Millard Weaver, who was the president of People’s Telephone Company, purchased sixty acres overlooking Little River, adjacent to the Little River State Park (as it was not yet a National Preserve).
Weaver began building an amusement park, which opened on March 8, 1970. It had world-class aerial adventure rides, including a Rollercoaster, bumper cars, merry go round, tilt a whirl, and a Ferris wheel. There was also a Putt-Putt golf course, campground, and it played host to many music and comedy shows. However, the most noteworthy attraction was the 1,500-foot-long chairlifts that guests could ride into the canyon below.
Once at the bottom, patrons could have a picnic, swim, hike, and fish. The State of Alabama owned the canyon floor, and the chairlift operation was contingent upon an easement that was granted to Canyon Land. The chairlift was located at what is now called Eberhart Point. You can see remnants of the lift and pillars at the bottom of the canyon trail.
Two years after opening the park, Weaver added a zoo that had over a hundred animals. In July 1972, Wild Country, which later became the group Alabama, made numerous appearances at the park.
After Millard Weaver’s death in October of 1972, the end of Canyon Land came. After the property and park ended up in a court battle, the park was purchased by Edward R. Riley. The chairlift was the main selling point of the property. Riley began having unforeseen difficulties with the chairlift. Without the chairlift, the park was doomed.
With the sale of the property, the easement for the bottom of the chairlift, which was on state property, expired. The state decided that if they were to renew it, the “carnival atmosphere” amusements on the canyon rim would have to be removed.
At the time, the Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, reportedly sent sworn statements to the courts that he wanted to see the chairlift in operation again. The court case dragged on for four years, and there is very little evidence of when the park shut down for good, but it was sometime between the 1978 court proceedings and the early 1980s.
In 1982, Millard Weaver’s son, Jackie, got the chairlift and a few of the rides back into operation, but by 1985 the property was again for sale.
For years, the park was a ghost town. The rides rusted away and began to be overtaken with vines and weeds. Later, some of the chairlift seats turned up for sale or on display in the area.
It is an urban legend that the zoo animals were released into the surrounding woodland. It has caused rumors for decades of people claiming to have seen jaguars and other exotic animals in the surrounding area.
Eventually, the part of Canyon Land atop the canyon’s rim where the chairlift was operated was taken into the State Park, which became a National Preserve in 1992.
Today, visitors can still enjoy picnic tables and grills at the top of what is now known as Eberhard Point. Visitors can hike down the trail into the canyon below and see the pillars that once held the chairlift. There are also remnants of the rock concession stand building. Canyon Land is now a long-forgotten place where many family memories were made. It lies there abandoned to remind us of a once-loved summertime tradition.
Remembering Canyon Land