This website will detail and describe the reclamation of the historic Dunaway Gardens established by Hetty Jane Dunaway, on her husband's (Wayne P. Sewell) cotton plantation. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. We have posted a photographic chronicle as the restoration progressed. Photos from the heyday of Dunaway Gardens depict various scenes from the gardens most popular times during the early 30's and 40's.

The gardens were composed of a variety of areas such as the Arrowhead Pools, a terraced Amphitheater that would seat over a thousand people, Blue Bonnet Tea Room, the Patchwork Barn indoor theater, the Wedding Tree, and the Honeymoon House called Shangri-la. The area known as "Little Stone Mountain" is greater than one acre of solid granite.

Dunaway Gardens was once described as the South's largest rock and floral garden. There were spring-fed pools, stone waterfalls and extensive hand-laid rock paths, walls, and staircases throughout the approximately twenty five acre tract.

Dunaway Gardens was a favored getaway for the gardens and their breathtaking beauty. Strolling the lush green alleys and climbing over the endless stone stairways, offered surprises at every crook and turn. There was the Hillside Rock Garden, a woodland area which has five terraces leading to the large swimming pool that was blasted out of solid granite. 

The Sunken Garden was located below the Blue Bonnet Tea Room. It has a trickling waterfall leading to a set of collecting pools that channel water beyond the Wishing Well to an octagon reflection pool. This pool was once a wisteria covered octagonal arbor situated over a large pool. This pool sits atop Little Stone Mountain.

 The Japanese Garden has a Gazebo. Water travels through collection pools cascading down to the Twin Pools. These Twin Pools feature a "floating stone" in the middle. Koi fish enjoy these pools. This Japanese Garden area was also said to have had numerous Umbrella trees during its day. There was also an area described as "Little Italy" that is remembered for its beautiful stone paths and steps.

Hetty Jane Dunaway's performances brought her in contact with Wayne P. Sewell Production Company, a dashing booking agent from Atlanta. Their courtship led to marriage, and they made their home on the Sewell's family plantation near Roscoe, Georgia. Here, her imagination and creativity led her to see something more in the rural landscape than just red clay farmland and rolling cotton fields. Her dream of a storybook garden as a setting for a theatrical training center came true.

The gardens were theatrically created. The gardens were known as "a dramatized garden". These exciting years brought many professional and world-renowned groups to the gardens. Enjoy these showbiz capers of the Hollywood Ballet and the outdoor Amphitheatre.