Dunaway Gardens: A Historic Legacy Garden in Coweta County
Written by DANIELLE ERNEST | Photography courtesy of DUNAWAY GARDENS
Six miles north of Newnan, there’s an exquisite garden with history that merits its very own movie script.
It all began in 1916 when Hettie Jane Dunaway fell in love with her booking agent and fellow actor Wayne Pendleton Sewell. Sewell inherited his grandfather’s cotton plantation and, in an effort to sway Dunaway to move to Newnan, he promised her that she could turn the land into anything her heart desired.
She spent 18 years of her life overseeing the design and creation of Dunaway Gardens, which was originally built to host musical and theatrical performances. Twenty-five acres were transformed into 12 spring-fed pools, seven waterfalls, a sunken garden, hanging gardens, and a 1,000-seat amphitheater.
The Gardens officially opened in 1934, inviting visitors to stay at the Honeymoon House and have high tea at the Blue Bonnet Tea Room. Famous visitors included Roy and Walt Disney, Tallulah Bankhead, Ester Williams, and Minnie Pearl.
Arrow Head Pool at Dunaway Gardens
Pearl, who appeared at the Grand Ol’ Opry for more than 50 years and on the TV show, “Hee Haw,” was born Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon and lived at Dunaway Gardens from the age of 14 to 21, serving as an instructor several years. In her autobiography, “The Life and Times of Minnie Pearl,” she dedicated four chapters to her experience living at Dunaway Gardens.
In an article published in 1961, Dunaway was quoted as saying, “I have spent all my energy, my time and our money on this undertaking. It seized me and has never let me go. I have worked 18 hours a day and planned all night on this place.”
Sadly, that same year, the gardening enthusiast died at age 91. Inherited by her niece and nephew, the masterpiece garden to which she dedicated much of her life was closed and forgotten, swallowed up and lost under years of kudzu and wisteria growth. The gardens remained at rest for 40 years
The Sunken Garden at Dunaway Gardens
New Owners
In 2000, Roger and Jennifer Bigham bought the 25 acres with no idea what lay beneath.
In a state promotion video, Roger says, “I fell in love with the garden the minute I laid eyes on it, and people do funny things when they fall in love.”
The couple worked for years and spent lots of money to slowly uncover what the estate truly had to offer. After much tender care, they reopened Dunaway Gardens in 2003, offering it as an event center for weddings and receptions.
In 2021, Tena Clark and her business partner, Lynn Eden, purchased Dunaway from the Bighams and restored it to its original purpose as a performing arts training program. Plans are underway to create the space as a luxury resort with restaurants and a spa.
Keith Robinson, executive director of the Gardens and Culinary, and Louis Giusto, operations coordinator, share what's planned to be at Dunaway by mid-2028: a 40-room lodge, event center, 20 guest cottages, indoor theater with film screenings for 125 to 150 guests, two restaurants, a spa and more.
Last April and May, Dunaway Gardens hosted its first Playwright Lab and Sundance Institute’s Episodic Labs. The Playwright Lab was led by Phillip Himberg, a former artistic director for the Sundance Theatre Lab, which brought playwrights, composers, and literacy advisers to Dunaway Gardens for intensive development. The May Sundance Institute Episodic Lab was a six-day residency for early career television writers.
In May, Dunaway Gardens welcomed some 200 Master Gardeners from Coweta County and beyond to tour the gorgeous gardens. There was such a demand from gardeners that Dunaway now plans to open the gardens once each quarter for tours. Check their website for available opportunities to tour.
The Tour
Touring the luxurious gardens at Dunaway is a magical experience. Upon entry, to the left of the main gate is the original historic cabin, the last historic building on the property and the home of Hettie Dunaway’s sister.
Beyond is Arrowhead Pools, which were dedicated to the Muscogee Creek Nation. The four pools are spring-fed with a stacked rock obelisk topped with a bald eagle. This holds significant cultural connection with the Muscogee Creek Nation as it symbolizes strength, freedom, and spirituality.
The entrance garden was designed by Robinson, who credits Tommy Morgan of Coweta Greenhouses for collaborating with him in selecting perennials that are not commercially found nearby. One area at Dunaway is filled with multiple different types of hydrangeas, from serrata, which are native to Georgia, to paniculata, oakleaf, and macrophylla. Eighty percent of the hydrangeas were planted by the Bighams and purchased from Wilkenson Mill Gardens, which once operated in Palmetto, according to Robinson.
The star of the grounds, the outdoor amphitheater, is stunning with its stones draped in moss, lending vibes of Scotland or Ireland. The most photographed area is a stone staircase with an old railway tie railing, covering the hillside with hardy begonias with their pink flowers floating above them. Complementing the begonias are Japanese ferns, hostas, coralbells and hellebores. The collection is beautifully designed, thanks to Robinson’s four years of editing and planting to achieve its top-shelf appearance.
Down from the hillside plantings and approaching the sunken garden is the Cathedral of Hemlocks that were originally planted by Dunaway. A total of 28 hemlocks grow on the property, according to Robinson who says the hemlock woolly adelgid, an invasive insect, desolated the South’s population of hemlocks in 1920. Having almost 30 on this Coweta County property is a rare treasure, as are several other rare plants at the property, including the peacock fern with its unique turquoise color, one that’s not often seen in nature. Robinson says it’s believed that Dunaway traveled all over the Southeast collecting plants and bringing them back to her estate.
Walking through certain parts of the sprawling gardens, it becomes clear that Hettie Dunaway loved the sound of water and understood the calming effect it has on the body. There are nine springs creating a lazy river, and all join across the garden.
The last portion of the garden uncovered from kudzu was Dunaway’s Rose Garden. Cascading down the hillside is a gorgeous stone wall and walkway made from rock quarried across the street from Dunaway. Now this portion of the garden is planted with 110 heirloom rose varieties that were selected based on bloom time, fragrance, and performance from the Antique Rose Emporium in South Carolina, with species dating back as early as the 1820s.
Also blooming are heirloom daffodils. Irises in the rose garden came from a home in Chattahoochee Hills; called Pallida, they bloom early and have tall spikes with pale purple flowers and a wonderful fragrance.
Also on-site is an organic tea farm where Camellia sinensis is grown; these plants will be used in shampoo, conditioner, soaps, and drinkable tea that will be used at the lodge, restaurant, and spa, according to Robinson. He says the restaurant will give a nod to Hettie Jane’s original restaurants, with high tea offered as well as entrees and cocktails that honor the past.
If Hettie Jane Dunaway were alive today, what would she have to say?
“She would be proud of this place,” says Robinson. “We are honoring her by devoting it back to the arts community and hosting up-and-coming talent. We often feel her presence here with us.” NCM
