Pineville sits in a narrow valley on the old Wilderness Road, beneath a high cliff and a big rock. For years travelers would ask about the rock, and so would local children, fearful that it would roll down Pine Mountain and flatten the town. The adults of Pineville would say there was no need to worry; the rock was safely anchored to the cliff by a chain. That was a lie. There was no chain -- because a chain wasn't needed. The rock, despite appearances, was just part of the mountain. In May 1933 some Pineville men were sitting around the courthouse, talking about the town. One of them, Headley Card, said he was tired of lying about the rock and that he wished someone really would put a chain on it. Another man, Pat Caton, said he knew of a chain on a wrecked steam shovel so big that it could be bolted to the rock and seen from the town below. Inspired, the men christened themselves the "Chained Rock Club" the next day. They recruited help from the local Kiwanis, Boy Scouts, and Civilian Conservation Corps. Using mules and human muscle, they dragged the chain -- over 100 feet long and 1.5 tons -- up the mountain, then anchored it to the rock with 30-inch bolts. On June 24, 1933, in just a little over a month's time, the project was complete. A local newspaper ran a story about it, the wire services picked it up, and Chained Rock became a national attraction.