Hetty Jane Dunaway's traveling show brought her in contact with Wayne P. Sewell Production Company, a dashing booking agent from Atlanta (both pictured above in theatrical garb).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.

These exciting years brought many professional and world-renowned groups to the gardens. Click here to view showbiz capers and the outdoor Amphitheatre.