On our way to  Callaway Gardens last weekend, we visited the Hills and Dales Estate. This hidden gem in LaGrange, Georgia was well worth the visit!

Watching a 15 minute film at the visitor’s center, we learned the history of the property – beginning with Sarah Jewell Ferrell in the 1850’s. With her husband Blount, Sarah Ferrell developed the gardens for roughly 70 years until her death in 1904. Fuller Earle Callaway, a prosperous businessman who founded several mills and banks in the LaGrange area had fond memories of Easter Egg hunts at Ferrell Gardens as a young boy and over the years, he and Sarah became friends. After Blount Ferrell’s death in 1909, the property was untended and sat until Fuller purchased it in 1914. Alongside his wife, Ida Cason Callaway, he restored the gardens and infamous boxwood parterres to their former glory and hired renowned Atlanta architect, Neel Reid, to build the mansion at the crest of the hill. (more…)