Located about 6 miles North of Newnan in the Roscoe area, along State Highway 70 otherwise known as Roscoe Road, lies a real treasure, once a vibrant splendor nearly a century ago. Having fallen into decay and disarray for more than forty years the gardens have been rediscovered by the current owners, and brought to life again. Tremendous care has obviously gone into it's restoration, plus lots of sweat turning it into the stunning setting that it is today. Dunaway Gardens comes with a rich history, much of it available at the official website: https://dunawaygardens.com/ The more you read about it the more fascinating the whole place becomes.
From the moment you step out of your car and onto one of the paths heading towards unspeakable beauty you're almost swept right off of your feet. Stone steps fused with moss abound. Those familiar with the Garden's history will soon realize how these paths were walked upon by many celebrity folk (Walt Disney, Minnie Pearl and of course Mrs. Dunaway herself among who knows how many others) from the roaring 20's and 30's. One moment you're beneath a towering old White Oak tree the next you're at a babbling brook or a cascading falls; you're at one magical setting after the other - each more beautiful than the next; how is that even possible?
Today is September 7th, and I was glad there were benches and chairs around to rest and cool off a bit - it was exceptionally humid (the exceptional being debatable because I think it's humid this time of year no matter what!) , and Much of the gardens are along a huge hillside, parts of which include huge chunks of granite, dubbed "Little Stone Mountain", and so the gardens are not flat. There is a lot of climbing to do from the lower elevations near the creek on the way back to the parking lot and welcome area, so be prepared.
Hetty Jane Dunaway's creation has been called a national treasure by many, and thank goodness the current owner and caretaker's Jennifer and Zach Bigham had the foresight, and tenacity that it had to take to bring this wonderful 25 acre garden paradise back to life again.
The amphitheater area could hold as many as perhaps 1,000 people for huge events. The gardens are sought after locations now for banquets and weddings with reception. At the time of this blog being published, on Tuesday and Thursday the gardens are open from 10 am to 3 pm for the public to tour, $10.00 is the fee.
Hoping to speak with Jennifer to learn more about the gardens for the writing of this blog post; she happened to be giving a guided tour with someone on one of the golf carts, so I decided to walk over and talk for a short time with a young man near by who was tending to one of the gardens. He told me he had moved here from Washington state recently and really enjoyed the area. His affection for the grounds were noticeably apparent. He quickly agreed when I mused, 'there is no conceivable end to the amount of work you could do here just to keep all the gardens in tip top shape and you could work the rest of your life day in and day out and there'd always be another garden area needing tended too'. realizing I may be keeping him from his work I said, "well, you sure have a beautiful place to work at" He smiled back as Jennifer rode up in the golf cart asking if I needed a ride back to the car. "Thanks, but I just need to cool off...do you have a large commercial fan?" Haha She said they did put in some sort of a massive air system for the large banquet building for wedding receptions and events, but right now it was just blowing warm air. Zach told me they had to import a large portion of the structure from Germany.
I really had hoped to visit more with the owners but you quickly get the sense that there is a lot of work to do around the gardens and today was the first day in quite some time that it has been open again to the public, so last minute tasks were yet to be completed but as beautiful as everything was you sure couldn't tell. The gardens from what I had seen, were absolutely in pristine condition. I did let Jennifer know I'd definitely be back, and hopefully will get a chance to visit more at another time.
If you haven't been to Dunaway Gardens, put this down on your must see list. Dress lightly though, and if you plan to walk the trails on your own, make sure you have on some good walking shoes. The trails are in immaculate condition, the grounds are exceptionally maintained and if it weren't for the pictures of how it was in the 1980's and 90's (I was there in 1988, but that's another story entirely ;-) ) you'd never believe your eyes.
The Website talks about a tea growing field near by. I wonder if they have ever considered growing grapes and making wine? As I took this picture I thought about what it might be like to sit down at this little table here and enjoy a nice glass of cabernet, but just then some more beads of sweat rolled down my brow. The moist air of the creek side and forest canopy became noticeable as a drop of sweat dripped off of my nose; suddenly I was also aware of my now mostly soaked dress shirt from the Georgia humidity and summertime heat, and imagined having a sweet tea with lots of ice instead.
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