Callaway Gardens was founded in 1952 by Cason Callaway, Sr. and his wife Virginia Callaway to preserve the native flora of the southern United States in a natural setting for the public to enjoy. Once marginal farm land depleted of its natural beauty and vegetation by overuse, the area was rebuilt by the Callaways into 2,500 acres of trees, shrubs and flowering plants. Callaway Gardens is owned and operated by the non-profit Ida Cason Callaway Foundation, dedicated to horticulture, charity, religion, education and science. The gardens are cared for and strengthened each year for the benefit and gratification of today’s generations and generations to come, and the property symbolized the past, the present, and the future of this region’s landscape.