The formal Colonial Revival gardens of Wormsloe designed by Augusta DeRenne complemented
the more spontaneous grounds, lush with oak trees covered in Spanish moss, azaleas, camellias
and flowering dogwood trees. They were captured in numerous paintings and photographs that
were reproduced onto postcards celebrating and advertising Wormsloe’s natural and cultivated
beauty to visitors during the 1930s.
Envisioning Wormsloe Gardens
Augusta DeRenne was the visionary behind the unique design of Wormsloe’s Colonial Revival style gardens. Visualized from a second-floor window of the main house, she put idea to paper and drafted her own plans for its construction. She was a known expert in ornamental garden design and historic southern garden plants through her connections with horticulturalists, botanists and gardeners. She went on to become the first vice president of the Garden Club of Georgia as well as a member of the Garden Club of America. [Swanson, Remaking Wormsloe Plantation, 148]
The Historic Treasures of Wormsloe Gardens
The formal Wormsloe gardens featured old flagstones that originated from England and were once used as ballast to enhance a ship’s stability. They were arranged to create a series of pathways connecting the gardens and leading visitors to explore its historic treasures. A few of these unique pieces included bronze statues sculpted by artist Louise Allen, an ancient iron fountain with metal water lilies, and a round well-head made of stone and supported by cobbles from the streets of historic Savannah. [Catron and Eaddy, Seeking Eden, 350] [The Junior League Magazine, Georgia Historical Society Vertical Files]
The Italian Marble Columns of Wormsloe Gardens
The first, and largest, of the three interconnected gardens of Augusta DeRenne’s Colonial Revival garden was rectangular in shape and featured a prominent row of stately freestanding Italian marble columns. Their carved Ionic capitals served as supports for twining Lady Banks’ rose vines, and it is rumored that the columns once adorned the main entry of the famed Spalding House of Sapelo Island. [The Macon Telegraph, March 24, 1929, Georgia Historical Society Vertical Files]
A View Fit for Fireworks
Where were the first firecrackers fired in Georgia? It is believed that the first firecrackers brought to Georgia were launched from the sweeping branches of one of the old oak trees of Wormsloe, providing a curated group of guests with a spectacular view. They were gifted to Wymberley Jones DeRenne by his good friend John Elliott Ward, Ambassador to China, on his return trip home to Savannah in 1861. [Early County News, March 21, 1929, https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/]
Mulberry Trees and Silk Production at Wormsloe
Among the seemingly endless bright bursts of azaleas and Spanish moss, visitors might chance upon a mulberry tree while exploring the grounds. Soon after establishing Wormsloe as the family’s country estate, Noble Jones joined the new colony’s experiment to become a center of silk production by planting white mulberry trees on the grounds. These trees provided the leaves necessary to feed the silkworms, allowing them to grow and to spin raw silk. Ultimately, the silk experiment proved unsuccessful for both the greater colony of Georgia and the efforts put forth at Wormsloe. [Catron and Eaddy, Seeking Eden, 346]
Traveling by Train to View Wormsloe Gardens
The Central of Georgia Railway advertisement read, “The beautiful historic Wormsloe Gardens of the DeRenne family are fast growing in popularity with lovers of beautiful flowers. The famous W. G. DeRenne Georgia Library now open to the public daily has become a haven for those interested in things of historical value.” For just $14.54 round trip, Blakely, Georgia residents could take advantage of this not-to-miss offer to travel comfortably by train across the state to Savannah to enjoy the abundant flowers of the newly opened Wormsloe Gardens. [Early County News, March 20, 1930, https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/]
The Gnome Garden
The gnome garden, sometimes called the “brownie garden”, was designed as the final of the three interconnecting gardens and was situated to the southwest of the original formal garden. It featured a central pool with an iron fountain, a collection of jugs and jars, and imported German gnome statues. From the iron water lilies decorating the pool to the blooming Calla lilies of the garden, visiting children most preferred the fanciful gnomes. [Bragg, DeRenne Three Generations of a Georgia Family, 328]
Beautiful and Functional Spanish Moss
Wormsloe is famous for its abundance of Spanish moss that drapes from the branches of its oak trees, from the never-ending arched canopy welcoming visitors, to its faithful appearance at nearly every turn of the grounds. Its Latin name is Tillandsia usneoides, and rather than a moss, it is an epiphyte (air plant) that originates from the pineapple family. Aside from its beauty, it has served many functional uses throughout history, from being spun and woven into cloth, to being used as a binding ingredient in plaster, to being used as stuffing for the cushions of Henry Ford’s Model-T cars. [Ogeechee Riverkeeper, https://www.ogeecheeriverkeeper.org/tag/spanish-moss/] [When Money Grew on Trees, https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/341940]
Wormsloe Gardens In Bloom
As a popular tourist attraction in the 1930s, it was the brilliant colors and abundance of Wormsloe’s blooming azalea bushes set under a canopy of oak trees and Spanish moss that were often most advertised to entice visitors. Much of the grounds were covered in Algerian ivy, creating the sense of a lush wilderness in contrast to the cultivated formal gardens. [Bragg, DeRenne Three Generations of a Georgia Family, 328-329]
Flowering Dogwood Avenue
Aptly named Dogwood Avenue, this postcard captures the unpaved drive at Wormsloe coming alive with beautiful flowering dogwood trees in the spring. Its Latin name, Cornus florida, translates to “horn,” referring to the hardness of its wood, and “full of flowers,” referring to its abundant white or pink blooms. Throughout history, the density of its wood proved extremely useful to indigenous tribes for making toothbrushes, daggers and arrows, and to settlers for making hay forks, mallets, cogwheels, crochet hooks, knitting needles, and even printing blocks. [Taylor, Plants of Colonial Days, 37] [History of the Dogwood Tree, https://www.gardenguides.com/93373-history-dogwood-tree.html]
Wormsloe Gardens and the Ladies Garden Club
The first garden club in America was founded in January 1891 as The Ladies Garden Club of Athens, Georgia. Garden clubs provided knowledge and support for women like Augusta DeRenne to transform domestic, urban, and suburban sites into purposeful and aesthetically-appealing landscapes. Serving as a successful model, DeRenne’s creation of Wormsloe’s Gardens helped to encourage women in Georgia and beyond to engage in the practices of landscape design and management [National Garden Clubs, https://gardenclub.org/history-and-mission] [Swanson, Remaking Wormsloe Plantation, 148]
A Place for Reflection at Wormsloe
Acting as an accompaniment to the formal gardens, much of Wormsloe’s landscape resembled a lush wilderness of flowering azaleas and camellias spread beneath the oaks for as far as the eye could see. Visitors could wander the oyster-shell paths that meandered throughout the flowered masses of vegetation and rest on one of the many stone benches to enjoy the peacefulness of the reflecting pools. [Bragg, DeRenne Three Generations of a Georgia Family, 328-329]
Azalea Gardens and The Tea Room
A trip to Wormsloe Gardens during the winter and spring months afforded visitors the opportunity to enjoy lunch at the Junior League-operated Tea Room, while spending the day leisurely exploring the gardens. Containing thousands of brightly-colored flowers including azaleas, camellias and hydrangea, along with a wide collection of native shrubs, evergreens and trees laden with Spanish moss, visitors were sure to find beauty and peacefulness meandering the grounds regardless of the season. [Early County News, March 12, 1931, https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/] [Visit Wormsloe Garden pamphlet, Georgia Historical Society Vertical Files]