Many of Georgia's significant designed landscapes grew from a strong interest in gardening and garden design that was abloom in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Seeking Eden: A Collection of Georgia's Historic Gardens explores the evolution of 12 of these influential properties.
Through photographs, postcards, landscape plans, and manuscripts, Seeking Eden highlights the importance of historic gardens in Georgia's past as well as their value and meaning within the state's 21st-century communities.
On view in McElreath Hall's archives gallery, the exhibition is presented in combination with publication of a University of Georgia Press book, also titled Seeking Eden: A Collection of Georgia's Historic Gardens. The book was co-authored by Cherokee Garden Library Director Staci L. Catron and historic preservationist Mary Ann Eaddy.
The content of the exhibition and book are inspired by Garden History of Georgia, 1733-1933, published by Peachtree Garden Club in 1933. Seeking Eden grew out of a more-than-decade-and-a-half collaboration launched in 2002 to conduct a statewide inventory of Georgia's historic gardens. The initiative was formed between the Garden Club of Georgia, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources-Historic Preservation Division, the Cherokee Garden Library (a Special Library of the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center), and the National Park Service-Southeast Regional Office.
Daily entrance fee for Free with membership
Open Tuesdays - Sundays 9AM-4PM
Closed on Mondays
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