A Man Built a Huge Pool in His Backyard to Fulfill His Childhood Dream
The INSIDER Summary:
- To fulfill a childhood dream, Micky Thorton started building a pool in his backyard on Labor Day in 1993.
- The gigantic swimming hole now has waterfalls, sprayers, a rope swing, a diving board, and more.
- The Thortons now welcome visitors to their pool for a fixed donation fee.
- So far, they have hosted kids' soccer teams, birthday parties, weddings, and even the Japanese national baseball team.
Advertisement
Growing up, Micky Thornton dreamed of building a pool in his backyard.
When he was 39 years old, Thornton set out to fulfill his childhood wish — in one gigantic way. After moving to Covington, Tennessee, with his family, he began building his backyard pool on Labor Day in 1993.
Related stories
Initially, the swimming hole was just 20 feet deep, lined with a polyethylene mat. But Thorton wanted the pool to be so large that "you could swim around it and not feel like you [were] trapped in a little box," WREG Memphis reported.
A post shared by Emily Jones (@emmy_jo)Jun 9, 2015 at 10:30am PDT
Today, the massive pool is made up of 320 yards of gunite, 40,000 pounds of steel rebar, and more than half a million gallons of water, by Thornton's estimate.
Advertisement
With rock-lined waterfalls, sprayers, a rope swing, a diving board, and more, the pool now looks straight out of a water park.
A post shared by TRIBE - Trinity Students (@tribe_tbc)Jun 11, 2017 at 4:26pm PDT
Luckily, you can visit the Thorton's family pool for a fixed donation fee. All you have to do is book a reservation through their Facebook page.
A post shared by Heather (@you3andwe)Jun 7, 2017 at 12:49pm PDT
So far, Micky and his wife Jane have hosted kids' soccer teams, birthday parties, weddings, and even the Japanese national baseball team in their backyard. The pool has also been used by various churches in over 400 baptism ceremonies.
A post shared by ericsingleton (@ericsingleton)Jun 24, 2017 at 6:45pm PDT
See the giant backyard pool come to life in this video below.
NOW WATCH: Giant 317,000 gallon backyard pool
Subscribe to INSIDER on YouTube for more great videos!
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o8HSoqWeq6Oeu7S1w56pZ5ufonyurc1mma6hnKl6qcHGnmSpp5%2Bheqq6jKGgrGWSlrCsxcCrm2ZqYGaEboU%3D