“Secret” Garden Opens
its Gates… (and Reveals CoAg Connections)

Alpha Gamma Rho (AGR) fraternity honored 715 of its members as “Brothers of the Century” during its 58th annual national convention and celebration of 100 years as a fraternity this past August. Among the honorees were 22 Auburn AGRs, including CoAg's Bill Alverson and the AAES' own Jim Bannon.
The property includes a magnificent home and outbuildings built by Fuller Callaway, a relative of the Callaway Gardens founders. It is famous for its formal grounds—known as Ferrell Gardens—that officially took root in 1841 when Sarah Coleman Ferrell expanded on a small formal garden first begun in 1832 by her mother, Nancy Coleman Ferrell.

Between 1841 and 1903 Sarah Ferrell developed the land around the estate into one of the most widely acclaimed gardens in the Southeast, complete with a formal boxwood garden. Callaway, a young aspiring businessman who had often visited Mrs. Ferrell in her garden, and his wife Ida Cason Callaway purchased the garden and land in 1911 where they built a magnificent Italian-style home and where Mrs. Callaway took over the garden with great zeal, adding fountains and classical statuary. She nurtured the garden until her death in 1936, at which time Fuller E. Callaway, Jr., and his wife, Alice, took it over and lavished the same loving attention on the garden until Alice's death in 1998.
In 1998, the Fuller E. Callaway, Jr., and Alice Hand Callaway estate was bequeathed to the Fuller E. Callaway Foundation, which has worked hard for the past several years to finally open these gardens to the world.
Hills and Dales and Ferrell Gardens have been enigmas in the LaGrange community for most of their history because the estate area has been private and, thus, rarely seen by the general public. But Hills and Dales Estate is now opened to the public, complete with a new visitor's center and gift store and ample parking for cars and tour buses.
The Callaway family members who run the Foundation have spent several years developing a plan to both preserve the historic land and plant material and also make it accessible to more people. And they have had lots of help from Auburn folks, including CoAg Horticulture Professor Dave Williams and three CoAg horticulture alumni…Dee Smith (B.S. 1995; M.S. 1997), Chris Smith (B.S. 1991) and Helen Phillips (M.S. 1992).Williams and Phillips are both on the steering committee for the foundation and have helped in the planning process for the garden opening. Dee and Chris (and no, they aren't related) are involved on a daily basis at the gardens. Dee is horticultural director for the gardens and Chris is grounds supervisor.
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