Noted singer, entrepreneur and philanthropist Dolly Parton was not only ubiquitous over the airwaves, but also somewhat with her life’s footprint.
As a result, Knoxville-area residents wanting to learn about as much of Parton’s life as they can after her death on Aug. 25 and who are already familiar with her Sevier County and even Knoxville connections can visit Ringgold, Georgia, less than two hours away.
Just across the state line from Chattanooga and off Interstate 75, Ringgold was where Parton and her lower-profile husband, Carl Dean, were married on May 30, 1966. Dean had also spent part of his growing-up years in the Chattanooga area, and his familiarity with Ringgold led partly to their wedding plans.
Carl Dean's connection to Ringgold
The other reason was practicality amid
the social customs of the time. As a plexiglass-covered plaque a few feet away from the still-standing First Baptist Church of Ringgold explains, she was already on the way to a successful singing career after arriving in Nashville after high school but wanted to keep her wedding private. Her business and recording executives also would have apparently frowned on the move, in part since she was only 20.
Dean, who was Parton’s senior by 3½ years and had met her at a washeteria during her first day in Nashville, had recommended Ringgold because of his familiarity with that area as a resident of nearby East Ridge in his elementary and junior high days.
Ringgold was also popular because it historically allowed same-day weddings with no waiting period. George Jones and Tammy Wynette were also married there in 1969.
Parton reportedly liked the idea of Ringgold too, because it was almost in Tennessee and – in her always-effervescent style – she liked a town with a name that sounded like rings of gold. But, as the plaque says, they ended up having to come back a second time on May 30, 1966, because she wanted to have a church wedding instead of getting married at the also-still-standing Catoosa County Courthouse diagonally across the street.
After her mother, Avie Lee Parton, made her a dress and came with her as the only witness among family or friends, they were married by the Rev. Don Duvall in the current church sanctuary.
They posed for a picture in front of the church, which had been built in 1957, and visitors today are also encouraged to stand in front of the same columns and take a photo.
While that and the courthouse are the only known tangible reminders of where Dolly set foot there, those who might have trouble imagining Dolly in Ringgold are helped by a giant mural of her on a historic downtown Ringgold building.
Dolly Parton murals are everywhere
Located on the corner of Tennessee and Nashville streets – where else ‒ just a couple hundred yards or so away from the church, it was done by Northeast Georgia artist Kim Radford in 2022 as a commission. It is called the “Tie the Knot” mural due to Parton’s wedding connection to the town.
Radford in a media interview at the time said it was the third Parton mural she had painted and that she was honored to be chosen. “Anything associated with Dolly is positive, it’s inclusive,” Radford told the Chattanooga NBC affiliate, WRCB, of her mural showing a golden-haired superstar with an also-golden smile. “She is a beautiful woman to paint.”
Ringgold in recent years has also had a “Dolly Days” weekend festival in May in honor of the Parton-Dean wedding connection, and part of the celebration has included a Dolly lookalike contest.
Since Parton's death, visitors have come to Ringgold to pay tribute to her, laying everything from flowers to girls’ cowboy hats on the sidewalk in front of the mural.
Regarding Dean’s connection to this area, some Chattanooga city directories at the Chattanooga Public Library has his family listed in them from the years 1952-55. His father, Edgar “Ed” Dean, was a transport or truck driver for Esso Standard Oil Co. That was at a time when automobiles and trucks were becoming even more ubiquitous.
The World War II veteran, who would later live in Nashville and start his own paving company, died in 2007 at the age of 88, while his wife and Carl’s mother, Virginia “Ginny” Dean, died in 1991 at age 71. Ed and Ginny had both been born in counties west of Nashville.
While Ed Dean had a steady job in Chattanooga, the family lived in three different homes in the East Ridge community, not far from Ringgold. The residences, in order, were at 818 Poindexter Ave., 1818 Hollywood Drive and 1825 Hollywood Drive, the city directories say.
The addresses on Hollywood Drive just across the Georgia state line have since been changed, so finding their exact locations today would require further research.
Little did young Carl Dean know at that time, but his future wife would enjoy the bright lights of the real Hollywood as well as those in Nashville and other places, while he stayed in the background. But now even his story – especially their wedding ‒ is coming to the forefront for Dolly Parton fans everywhere.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Less than 2 hours from Knoxville, a town remembers Dolly Parton
