Rvs on East Texas Mountain
Denny Mortis grew up on a dairy farm in upstate New York and came to Texas with the Air Force. While doing flight simulation at Ellington Air Force Base near Houston and going to college he met his wife to be. They were at the same gym together and when Denny saw her he thought, “That’s the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.”
She was from East Texas and while showing Denny some of the sights in 1973 she took him to Lookout Mountain near Jacksonville. He was amazed to find a mountain 715 feet above sea level that offered a 35-mile view. He said, “Lord would I like to have an acre of land here.”
Later on Denny said the Lord must have heard him. He and Patti bought their first tract of land on the mountain in 1990 and kept buying tracts as they became available. He now owns 250 acres. His first venture on the mountain was a water slide and ski slope. The latter was made from a material used at Texas A & M. “It was to give people a feel for skiing before they went skiing in Colorado,” says Denny.
He shut down that enterprise when insurance got too expensive. Denny has a Masters Degree and made a living doing financial planning for 25 years. An accident caused a head injury limiting his ability to do that any longer, so for 4 years he worked with his son who owns a stereo and video store. When he was feeling better he went into real estate. He was managing The Reserve at Lake Tyler where HGTV built a dream home on the premises.
Denny had Trade Days on the mountain for 22 years. When the president of an upscale RV company came by and saw the mountain with its magnificent view he told Denny he really needed to open an RV park on the property so people could enjoy looking at the rolling hills and trees. Denny has planted 150,000 loblolly pines.
Denny spent all of 2019 getting the park ready, building concrete slabs and patios, showers, bathrooms and laundry facilities, restoring an old rock house on the property and when it was all set to open in early 2020 the Corona Virus made its appearance. “We didn’t do anything for the first 6 months of 2020. Then people started trickling in and by September things were beginning to happen. Rvers would spend some time here, then tell other Rvers about the place, and soon RV Clubs were holding rallies here. We even have some customers who have been here since August. Our minimum stay at Lookout Mountain RV Park is 2 nights because we want people to see the view and explore our 10 miles of trails. The old Rock House has a building attached where up to 20 people can have coffee and watch the sunrise. We have a 2-story barn with a covered porch. There’s also a 1959 Edsel on the property.”
Denny and Patti spend as much time as possible with their children and grand children who live in Tyler. Denny considers himself a blessed man. Nine years ago a blood thinner he was taking cut off his blood supply and he actually died for a while but was brought back to life with 6 paddle shocks. “Every day now is a fun day,” he says.