Azaleas near PEAK at Callaway Gardens in Georgia

Callaway Gardens

If you have been wondering when will be the best time to see the azaleas at Callaway Gardens, now is the time!

Located at Pine Mountain, Georgia, the gardens feature some of the most spectacular azalea gardens in the world. This year's blooms may be the most spectacular ever.

Conceived in 1930 by Cason J. Callaway after he and his wife found a rare wild azalea growing on overworked farm land, Callaway Gardens have emerged to become one of the most beautiful gardens anywhere. They cover more than 16,000 acres of rolling mountain terrain at Pine Mountain between Atlanta and Columbus.

A highlight each spring is the Callaway Brothers Azalea Bowl, a massive azalea garden that explodes with color. The cold wet winter was very good for the azaleas and officials at the gardens say that this may be the best year for azaleas in their more than 80 year history.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/callawaygardens1 or www.callawaygardens.com.  Here is a special video invite from Edward Callaway:

Best Christmas Lights of 2013 now online!

Courtesy of Callaway Gardens

ExploreSouthernHistory.com's annual list of the South's Best Christmas Lights is now online and updated for 2013!

Most of the lighting displays are up and going and the rest pretty much kick off tomorrow (December 1st) or during the coming week.  Here are some notes about this year's highlights

• It will be the final year for Christmas in Alabama, the Bradley family's gigantic display in Grand Bay, Alabama (near Mobile).
• Holiday Spectacular in Wicksburg, Alabama (near Dothan) is continuing after the sad passing of one of its founders and will be even bigger this year!
• The Arkansas Trail of Lights website is online for 2013!  I have the link on the list page.
• Three Rivers State Park in Sneads, Florida is expanding the nights its lights will be open this year.
• Fantasy in Lights at Callaway Gardens in Georgia is up and running for 2013!
• Lights under Louisville is open for the season.  This is an awesome underground drive-through display!
• Check out info for these and all of the others for 2013 at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/christmas.

Callaway Gardens Azaleas are nearing full bloom!

Azaleas in bloom at Callaway Gardens

I just received notice this morning from the staff at Callaway Gardens that the azaleas and other spring flowers are nearing full bloom and that NOW is the time to go see them!
The Gardens team reports that the azaleas will be in full bloom from now over the next two weeks. The Overlook Azalea Garden and Callaway Brothers Azalea Bowl both look incredible and spring has definitely arrived at Pine Mountain!

The Callaway Brothers Azalea Bowl covers 40 acres and features more than 3,400 hybrid azaleas along with 2,000 other blooming plants and shrubs. The setting is stunning, with a pavilion, gazebo, flowing stream, walking paths and arched bridge. The garden was gunded by Ely Callaway, Jr., who funded it with a donation of $3 million and named it in honor of his ancestors, Ely Reeves Callaway and Fuller Earle Callaway.

Woods in bloom at Callaway Gardens

The Overlook Azalea Garden, meanwhile, features 700 varieties of cultivated azaleas and has been called "one of the most beautiful places on Earth."

The blooms only last about two weeks so from now through the end of March is the time to go.

In addition to the azaleas, the staff reports that dogwoods, native azaleas, silverbells, sweetshrub, red buckeye and early spring wildflowers are in bloom throughout the gardens.

Callaway Gardens are located in Pine Mountain, Georgia, not far from Warm Springs and President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Little White House. The gardens are open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Special event admission from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. is $25 per adult; $12.50 per child age 6 to 12; children 5 and younger are admitted for free. Callaway Gardens Annual Passholders are admitted for free. Military (active and retired with valid ID) are admitted for half-price during Celebrate Spring! From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., the facilities will close but the Gardens will remain accessible for half-price admission.

You can learn more at www.callawaygardens.com and see additional photos from a couple of years ago at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/callawaygardens1.html.

Here are some other great points of interest in area:

• Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park
• Dowdell's Knob on Pine Mountain
• Warm Springs, Georgia
• FDR's Little White House

Best Autumn Drives #5 - Highway 190 in Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park, Georgia

Overlook at Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park

Highway 190, which passes along the crest of Pine Mountain through the full length of Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park in Georgia, is one of the most beautiful fall drives in the South.
The park takes its name from the President that led the United States through the dark days of the Great Depression and World War II. In fact, President Roosevelt died at his Little White House near Warm Springs on the northern slopes of Pine Mountain. He frequented the beautiful scenery now included in the more than 9,000 acres of the state park.

Highway 190 enters the park at the Callaway Store and Overlook just north of Hamilton, Georgia. From there it winds its way along the top of the mountain, past overlooks, the park office, cabins, picnic areas, trail heads and other points of interest until it exits the park just outside Warm Springs. The total length is just under 12 miles.

Roosevelt Statue at Dowdell's Knob

Along the way, be sure to take Dowdell Knob Road out to Dowdell's Knob, a favorite picnic spot of President Roosevelt. The knob is a hilltop that projects from the side of the mountain and provides a spectacular, panoramic view of the surrounding countryside.  During the fall it overlooks an amazing natural canvas of color, especially reds and golds.

Highway 190 itself is simply a spectacular drive in years when the leaves are good.  Along much of the route, the trees form natural arches over the roadway. When these take on their full color, the scene as you pass through the trees is simply amazing.

The drive is also just minutes away from Pine Mountain's famed Callaway Gardens, which also offers spectacular fall scenery.  The grounds of the Little White House near the northern end of the highway are also beautiful in the fall.

If you want to enjoy a great lunch while visiting Pine Mountain, consider the Callaway Country Store located at the southern entrance to the state park. The dining room there has what may be the best fried chicken in Georgia and features spectacular views from your table.  You can also take a picnic and enjoy the mountain scenery itself as there are plenty of great picnic spots along the road and the weather is usually mild, but cool (be sure to take a sweater or jacket).

To learn more about Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fdrstatepark.

You can also check out the views from Dowdell's Knob at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/dowdellsknob.

You can read about the Little White House and President Roosevelt at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/littlewhitehouse.

And, last but not least, read about Callaway Gardens at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/callawaygardens1.

Cold Winter leads to late Azalea Blooms in much of the South

The long, cold winter has had an effect on this year's azalea blooms across much of the South, pushing them back later into spring than normal.

Usually the blooms at places like Honor Heights Park, home of the Muskogee Azalea Festival in Oklahoma, and Callaway Gardens in Georgia would have been in full bloom a week ago, but they are just now beginning to come out. Garden experts indicate that this should mean two things for this year's display. First, the blooms should be quite spectacular over the next week or so. Second, the blooms may not remain at their height as long as normal this year.

As of this weekend, the azalea blooms at Muskogee, where the Azalea Festival will continue until the end of the month, were still emerging but they should be quite beautiful as this week goes along. The case is the same at Callaway Gardens at Pine Mountain, Georgia. The blooms there were still coming out on Saturday, but should be really pretty by the end of the week.

Elsewhere across the South, you can expect about the same conditions at gardens from about the midpoints of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi and north. Along the coastal plain, everything looks really nice. Here in Northwest Florida, the azaleas are just spectacular.

Here are links to some of our garden pages at ExploreSouthernHistory.com:

• Muskogee Azalea Festival - Muskogee, Oklahoma
• Callaway Gardens - Pine Mountain, Georgia
• Dothan Area Botanical Gardens - Dothan, Alabama
• Eden Gardens State Park - Point Washington, Florida
• Rainbow Springs State Park - Dunnellon, Florida
• Garvan Woodland Gardens - Hot Springs, Arkansas
• Maclay Gardens State Park - Tallahassee, Florida

Callaway Gardens - Pine Mountain, Georgia

One of the most beautiful, historic and popular spring destinations in the South can be found at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia.

The spectacular gardens were conceived more than 70 years ago when Cason J. Callaway, the son of a hard-working and successful Georgia merchant and industrialist, discovered rare native azaleas growing at the site. He and his wife, Virginia, decided to convert the over-worked cotton fields to a beautiful playground and soon began acquiring property at the site. Callaway Gardens have been open to the public for more than 50 years and now encompass 14,000 acres of some of the most beautiful land in the United States.

The gardens themselves are a major historic landmark and are the centerpiece of a recreational complex that features 13 lakes, biking and walking trails, a golf course, restaurants, accommodations and a wide array of other amenities. Several unique historic landmarks can also be found scattered across the grounds. A charming pioneer log cabin dating from 1830 is beautifully preserved and in Mr. Cason's Vegetable Garden can be found benches made from stone slabs that were once part of a cotton mill that escaped destruction during the Civil War because of the Masonic symbols found on them.

The azaleas and other spring plants are in full bloom at Callaway Gardens, although this week's freeze did impact the blooming season a bit. To learn more about Callaway Gardens, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/callawaygardens1.