The Founders Garden

Gardening is one of my first memories as a child, and it has been a long time dream of mine to marry outside in a garden. When David proposed he knew the importance of The UGA Founders Garden as a Historic Landmark here in Athens. Prior to the proposal we often discussed this ceremony site option but I was completely surprised when he proposed to me on August 1, 2008, at the very spot that we will be married! The garden will now be forever a part of our history together as Mr. and Mrs. David Brinson.

Please take a moment to get familiar with the rich history of the gardens. We hope you will enjoy your time there!


Guests should enter on Lumpkin Street and proceed through the house or to the right of the house for cocktails. The ceremony will take place in The Perennial Garden. After the ceremony there will be a cocktail hour in The Courtyard and Boxwood Garden. The reception will be held afterward in The North Part of the Garden, there will be limited seating (and games!) on the South Lawn as well.


The Founders Memorial Garden commemorates the twelve founders of the first American Garden Club, the Ladies Garden Club of Athens, which was founded in 1891. With funds raised by the Garden Club of Georgia, Dean Hubert B. Owens, his staff, and students of the Landscape Architecture Department designed the garden. The layout of the two and one-half acre series of gardens, the grounds of the former Headquarters House for the Garden Club of Georgia, consists of a formal boxwood garden, two courtyards, a terrace, a perennial garden and an arboretum as well as two informal areas, one dedicated to Johnnie Kyle Woodruff of Columbus, Georgia. The house and garden are on the National Register of Historic Places as well as the Georgia Register of Historic Places.



The sign located on Lumpkin Street to the left of the garden from Broad Street


The former Garden Club of Georgia Headquarters. This charming old rose-brick, Federal-style house was built in 1857 and was restored by the Garden Club to pristine splendor. Prior to the Landscape Architecture Department taking possession in 1961, the house had served as a residence for University of Georgia professors, a dining hall, quarters for the biological sciences department, a residence for the first Dean of Women, a chapter house for the Phi Mu Sorority, and an office for the School of Landscape Architecture beginning in 1938.

The stone pavers in the front courtyard (facing Lumpkin Street) were rescued by the late Hubert Bond Owens, Dean of the University of Georgia School of Landscape Architecture. The irrepressible Dean Owens brought the cobblestones to the Headquarters House as they were removed from an Athens street resurfacing project. The ancient Belgian blocks were ship ballast from European sailing vessels that came to the New World. In 1991, to celebrate their Centenary, The Ladies Garden Club of Athens placed a time capsule under a circular design of pavers in the front courtyard. Founded in 1891, The Ladies Garden Club was the first garden club organized in America. This capsule will be unearthed and opened in the year 2091!


The statue of a lady holding a rose was a choice addition to the Garden in 1954. It was presented to the Founders Memorial Garden by the National Council of State Garden Clubs as part of the organization's celebration of its 25th anniversary.

Designed and executed by sculptor Posey of Sarasota, FL, the statue's fitting inscription reads: "For every good thing has a beginning and the beginning was here". Sounds like the perfect quote for our wedding day!


The Perennial Garden Ceremony Site


Please make sure to take the time to visit throughout the gardens. There are plenty of trails and secret spots along the two and a half acres.




Grow Old Along With Me The Best Is Yet To Be!