Harris County GaArchives Photo Place.....Callaway Gardens- Cason J. Callaway ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Christine Thacker http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00033.html#0008100 May 15, 2007, 1:56 pm Source: Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Photo can be seen at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/harris/photos/callaway12851gph.jpg Image file size: 209.1 Kb Thanks to Ex-Industrialist Callaway Gardens: Public Eden By Celia Doremus Guest Columnist "A man whose heart was in the garden" is a good description of Cason J. Callaway, a former textile inustrialist who built his dream - the living, growing Callaway Gardens. Nearly 26 years ago, Callaway and his wife Virginia, decided to take the 2,500 acres of land eroded and worn by nearly 200 years of cotton farming, and create a lush natural garden of trees, flowers, lakes and woodlands. His explanation? "I am a selfish man at heart," he once told a son. "I want to use my money to do people good and make them happy while I'm still around to watch them enjoy it." For several years Callaway used the land "as a place where I could just walk in the woods. . .and think about things I hadn't had time to think about before." Then he discovered a rare flower on the land, the Prunifolia Azalea, which grows only within a 100-mile radius of the Gardens. Finding this flower was the inception of the Gardens as a refuge of native plant life of the Southeast. Callaway's original idea was to create a retreat of lakeside homes with fishing and golf. But soon this idea changed. He decided to build a garden for the public's enjoyment. "Every child ought to see something beautiful before he's six years old- something he will remember all his life," said Callaway. "And there hasn't been too much beauty in this part of the country in the past. . . All I have done is try to-fix it so that anybody who came here would see something beautiful wherever he might look." So, Callaway built the garden the way visitors see them today - woodlands, flowers, trails and golf courses all dotted with thirteen glistening lakes. Callaway Gardens 2,500 acres lies 35 miles from Columbus on the northern slopes of Pine Mountain, a wooded hill rising 1,300 feet above sea level. Geogolists say Pine Mountain, the tailbone of the Southern Applachian Mountain range, is the oldest land on the American continent. Restoring this land would have taken nature, working alone, more than a century to accomplish. But it took Callaway and his dedicated horticulturists and foresters only 25 years to refurbish the area by accelerating the natural growth. And when the Gardens were completed, Callaway turned over its entire corporate and financial operations to a non-profit organization founded in LaGrange, Ga., in 1936 - The Ida Cason Callaway Foundation. At the same time he was thinking of preserving the beauty of the area, Callaway also concentrated on the "wholesome recreation" of his guests. Eventually, three golf courses were built around the lakes and swimming, fishing, boating and other recreational activities were added. When it was finished, and officially opened on May 21, 1952 as a memorial to his mother Ida Cason Callaway, Callaway and his wife walked through the Gardens, chatted with visitors and imagined other additions he could make to the Gardens. "We don't want just to build the finest garden seen on earth since Adam Was a boy." Callaway said. "We want to built the prettiest garden that will ever be seen on earth till Gabriel blows his horn." Special Sesquicentennial Supplement III Ledger- Enquirer, Sunday, April 30, 1978,pg S-6. ~~~~~~~~~~ For Water Skiiers, Prestige Lives On Lake At Pine Mountain Base. By Cella Doremus Guest Columnist Each year the hopes and dreams of the nation's competitive water skiers are focused on the 65-acre lake at the foot of Pine Mountain in Callaway Gardens. The competitors come to vie for the Masters Water LSki Championship, which was birthed on Robin Lake 19 years ago. "No other water ski tournament in the nation holds quite the same prestige, rigorous competition and breathless anxiety as does the Masters," said G. Harold Northrop, president of Callaway Gardens. "It is one of the oldest ski tournaments in the world and we are proud to be home of this competItion." The scene of the Masters since the beginning, Robin is one of 13 lakes created by Cason J. Callaway when he turned thousands acres of eroded farmed- out land on the northern slope of Pine Mountain into family vacation resort the 1940s. Howard "Bo" Callaway, Cason's son, brought skiing to Robin in 1954, with a ski show troupe which receiveed overwhelming approval from guests. This was followed by the 1956 Georgia Invitational, the first Robin Lake ski tournament, and several others. Then in 1959, Bo brought the nation's finest wate skiers to Callaway Garden to compete in The Ida Cason Callaway Invitational (named for Bo's grandmother), which was the first "Masters." Bo's interest in the sport resulted in his election to the Board of Directors of the American Water Ski Association (AWSA) in 1957. He also served as president of AWSA in 1961; and chairman of the board in 1963. Each year, while thousands of spectators watch, the Masters has rendered a new twist in the story of competition water skiing. There have been wide margins of victory " and defeat by tenths of point on the Robin Lake Course. World records have tumbled and proud winners have carried the coveted Masters Cup and Master Troup to California, New Jersey, Canada, Missouri, Florida and Texas. This year is the 20th Anniversary of the Masters Water Ski Tournament at Callaway Gardens. Special Sesquicentennial Supplement III Ledger- Enquirer, Sunday, April 30, 1978,pg S-6. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/harris/photos/callaway12851gph.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 6.3 Kb