Bellingrath Gardens and Home facts for kids
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Bellingrath Gardens and Home
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The Bellingrath Home
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 Location in Alabama
Location in the United States
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| Location | 12401 Bellingrath Gardens Road Theodore, Alabama |
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| Area | 65 acres (26 ha) |
| Built | 1925-1949 |
| Architectural style | 20th Century Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 82001609 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | October 19, 1982 |
Bellingrath Gardens and Home is a beautiful public garden and historic house. It covers 65 acres and is located near Mobile, Alabama, in the United States. This special place was created by Walter and Bessie Bellingrath. Walter Bellingrath was one of the first people to bottle Coca-Cola in the southeastern part of the U.S. He used his success to build this amazing garden and home.
Walter and his wife, Bessie, lived in the house. Today, their home is a museum that you can visit. The gardens first opened to the public in 1932. This site is recognized as an important landmark. It was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage in 1977. Later, it was also listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Contents
Explore the Gardens: What Grows Here?
Bellingrath Gardens and Home sits on about 900 acres of land along the Fowl River. About 65 acres of this land are carefully grown gardens. These gardens are home to many different kinds of plants. You can see cabbage palmetto trees and live oaks. There are also beautiful camellias, azaleas, roses, and chrysanthemums all year long.
Winter Wonders in the Garden
In winter, the gardens are filled with colorful tulips and snapdragons. You can also find pansies, ornamental cabbage and kale. Bright daffodils, poppies, primroses, and many types of narcissus also bloom.
Spring Blooms and Colors
Spring brings a burst of color with over 250,000 azaleas. Other spring favorites include hydrangeas, Easter lilies, impatiens, salvia, fuchsia, and Pelargonium geraniums.
Summer's Lush Greenery
During summer, the gardens feature more than 2,000 roses. You'll also see allamandas, hibiscus, copper plants, and begonias. Colorful ornamental peppers, bougainvillea, caladiums, coleus, vinca, and marigolds add to the beauty.
Autumn's Golden Hues
In the fall, the gardens are famous for their chrysanthemums. There are over 8,000 of these flowers, in beds, pots, and cascading displays. You can also still enjoy hibiscus and copper plants.
History of Bellingrath Gardens
The land for the gardens was first bought in 1917 by Walter Bellingrath. He was the president of the local Coca-Cola bottling plant. He bought the property as a fishing camp to help him relax from work.
How the Gardens Began
The idea to turn the fishing camp into Bellingrath Gardens and Home came mostly from Bessie Mae Morse Bellingrath. She married Walter in 1906. Mrs. Bellingrath started planning the gardens in 1927 with an architect named George Bigelow Rogers.
The Bellingrath Home
The Bellingrath home was finished in 1935. It is a large house, covering 10,500 square feet. The house was built with special bricks saved from an old building in Mobile. This building was the birthplace of Alva Smith Vanderbilt Belmont and was built in 1852. Ironwork for the house came from the Southern Hotel, which was built around 1837 and later taken down. The house design mixes different styles. It has a grand Georgian staircase, like those in old English country houses. It also features French doors and a Mediterranean-style courtyard.
Opening to the Public
Walter and Bessie Morse Bellingrath first opened their gardens to visitors on April 7, 1932. After Mr. Bellingrath passed away in 1955, the home became a museum in 1956. All the original furniture from Mrs. Bellingrath is still there for visitors to see.
The Bellingrath-Morse Foundation
The Bellingraths did not have children. After Bessie's death in 1943, Walter spent the rest of his life working on the gardens she loved. In 1950, when he was 80 years old, Walter D. Bellingrath started the Bellingrath-Morse Foundation. This foundation helps several colleges, including Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama. It also supports Bellingrath's church, Central Presbyterian, and his wife's family's church, St. Francis Street Methodist. These schools and churches receive most of the foundation's money. While the gardens get some money from the foundation, most of their daily costs are covered by ticket sales, gift shop and restaurant sales, memberships, and donations.
Christmas Magic in Lights
Bellingrath Gardens celebrates the Christmas season in a very special way. They have a display called "Magic Christmas in Lights." This amazing light show started in 1995. It runs every year from the Friday after Thanksgiving until New Year's Eve. The display features over 3 million lights and 1,000 decorated pieces. These are arranged into 13 different themed scenes all around the estate. In 2014, USA Today named Bellingrath's Magic Christmas in Lights one of the "10 Best Public Light Displays in America." Online voters placed it in sixth place.
Awards and Recognition
- On December 15, 2014, USA Today recognized Bellingrath Gardens and Home's Magic Christmas in Lights. It was listed among the "10 Best Public Light Displays in America." Readers voted Bellingrath into sixth place.
- On June 4, 2015, Dr. William E. Barrick received the American Horticultural Society's 2015 Liberty Hyde Bailey Award. Dr. Barrick was the executive director of the Gardens from 1999 to 2019.
See also
In Spanish: Casa y Jardines Bellingrath para niños
