BELLINGRATH Gardens and Home, Theodore, Alabama
The story of an American entrepreneur, magnificent flowers in bloom, the flowing Fowl River, an estuary off of Mobile Bay, and a 10,000 square foot home filled with silver, 19th century porcelain, are all parts of the Bellingrath experience. At the turn of the 20th century, Walter Bellingrath, the teenage son of a German immigrant metalworker, was working for the railway as a telegraph operator. His monthly salary amounted to $87. Then he heard of a business opportunity that involved an investment of $1500. Coca-Cola, located in nearby Atlanta, Georgia, was offering the bottling franchise for the state of Alabama. He could only scrape together this much money by including his brother as a partner.
Once he owned the franchise, Walter labored hard every day into the late afternoon and evenings, when he would collect the used bottles, rush them back to the bottling plant to be sterilized and refilled, to be sold again tomorrow. Coke was very popular in Alabama’s hot climate where the purity of water supplies could also be suspect.
In 1917, on the recommendation of his doctor who made a diagnosis of “overwork”, Walter bought a fishing camp which his wife saw as an ideal place for a family country home modeled after those they had seen on their travels in England. She had much more in mind than just a fishing camp, and so Walter turned his focus from fish to architectural and garden design. With his grand vision, in 1927 he planned a transformation of his primitive fishing camp into a country estate.
The Bellingraths reused building materials from other places, especially nearby Mobile, to enhance the architectural design of the home. Magnificent wrought iron balconies, fencing, and benches came from the demolished Southern Hotel in Mobile built in 1837. Handmade bricks came from a stately home about to be taken down. Flagstone garden pathways were composed of material that had originally served as ballast in sailing vessels that transported loads of cotton from Mobile to the mills in Manchester, England.
Since 1932, the Bellingraths had opened their 65 acre their botanic gardens to the public. Here, seasonally one could enjoy the exuberant colors and scents of flowers, greens and flowering bushes --- azaleas, impatiens, marigolds, vinca, pansies, chrysanthemums, to name a few.
Upon his death Mr. Bellingrath established a foundation to help maintain the gardens and country mansion “as a fitting and permanent memorial to my wife.” Included in his philanthropy was support for his family’s church and a few local colleges including Stillman College, a historically black liberal arts college in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Although the house and gardens are supported by a foundation Walter established on his death, the estate still requires visitor support through entrance fees. With these numbers diminishing over the recent years, one may wonder (and worry) whether an attraction such as this will survive into the next generations.
I do want to thank my brother and sister-in-law, Michael and Rozanna Levine, for giving us the travel tip which led us to visit the Bellingrath Gardens & Home from our overnight stay in Mobile.
The story of an American entrepreneur, magnificent flowers in bloom, the flowing Fowl River, an estuary off of Mobile Bay, and a 10,000 square foot home filled with silver, 19th century porcelain, are all parts of the Bellingrath experience. At the turn of the 20th century, Walter Bellingrath, the teenage son of a German immigrant metalworker, was working for the railway as a telegraph operator. His monthly salary amounted to $87. Then he heard of a business opportunity that involved an investment of $1500. Coca-Cola, located in nearby Atlanta, Georgia, was offering the bottling franchise for the state of Alabama. He could only scrape together this much money by including his brother as a partner.
Once he owned the franchise, Walter labored hard every day into the late afternoon and evenings, when he would collect the used bottles, rush them back to the bottling plant to be sterilized and refilled, to be sold again tomorrow. Coke was very popular in Alabama’s hot climate where the purity of water supplies could also be suspect.
In 1917, on the recommendation of his doctor who made a diagnosis of “overwork”, Walter bought a fishing camp which his wife saw as an ideal place for a family country home modeled after those they had seen on their travels in England. She had much more in mind than just a fishing camp, and so Walter turned his focus from fish to architectural and garden design. With his grand vision, in 1927 he planned a transformation of his primitive fishing camp into a country estate.
The Bellingraths reused building materials from other places, especially nearby Mobile, to enhance the architectural design of the home. Magnificent wrought iron balconies, fencing, and benches came from the demolished Southern Hotel in Mobile built in 1837. Handmade bricks came from a stately home about to be taken down. Flagstone garden pathways were composed of material that had originally served as ballast in sailing vessels that transported loads of cotton from Mobile to the mills in Manchester, England.
Since 1932, the Bellingraths had opened their 65 acre their botanic gardens to the public. Here, seasonally one could enjoy the exuberant colors and scents of flowers, greens and flowering bushes --- azaleas, impatiens, marigolds, vinca, pansies, chrysanthemums, to name a few.
Upon his death Mr. Bellingrath established a foundation to help maintain the gardens and country mansion “as a fitting and permanent memorial to my wife.” Included in his philanthropy was support for his family’s church and a few local colleges including Stillman College, a historically black liberal arts college in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Although the house and gardens are supported by a foundation Walter established on his death, the estate still requires visitor support through entrance fees. With these numbers diminishing over the recent years, one may wonder (and worry) whether an attraction such as this will survive into the next generations.
I do want to thank my brother and sister-in-law, Michael and Rozanna Levine, for giving us the travel tip which led us to visit the Bellingrath Gardens & Home from our overnight stay in Mobile.
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| Old ad for Coca-Cola |
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| Formal dining room, largest room in the house |
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| Mirror Lake, a dammed creek |
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| Fowl River -- slate walkway |
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