Callaway Gardens

Callaway Gardens at 17800 US-27 in Pine Mountain, west Georgia, is a 2,500-acre resort and botanical garden complex in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, approximately 75 miles southwest of Atlanta. Founded in 1952 by textile industrialist Cason Callaway and his wife Virginia, the gardens were created on the site of exhausted farmland with the aim of restoring the landscape and making natural beauty accessible to families. The property encompasses cultivated gardens, a 175-acre lake, woodland trails, a beach, an indoor butterfly conservatory, and the associated Callaway Gardens Resort.

The gardens are organized across several distinct areas. The Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center houses one of the largest glass-enclosed butterfly conservatories in North America, with tropical species flying freely in a high-humidity rainforest environment. The Ida Cason Callaway Memorial Chapel, a small non-denominational chapel set beside a reflecting pool in a woodland clearing, is one of the most visited spots. The John A. Sibley Horticultural Center contains indoor and outdoor plant displays organized by botanical category and climate. Mr. Cason's Vegetable Garden, maintained year-round, is one of the most extensive display vegetable gardens in the southeastern United States.

For active visitors, the gardens offer 10 miles of paved bicycle paths, a zip-line, a ropes course, and Robin Lake Beach — one of the largest inland white-sand beaches in the eastern United States. Robin Lake Beach is open in summer.

The most popular seasonal events are the Azalea Festival in May, when more than 700 azalea varieties bloom across the woodland garden, and Fantasy in Lights, a holiday drive-through illumination event running from November through early January that transforms the gardens' road network into a 5-mile light display. Standard admission is $22 for adults; Fantasy in Lights tickets are priced and sold separately. The resort is 75 miles southwest of Atlanta via I-85 South and US-27 South.