DISCOVER GEORGIA: Rock Garden

Have you ever made plans with friends to visit a restaurant, city, gallery, or whatever and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited? Well, I'd been wanting to visit the Rock Garden in Calhoun, GA for the past few years. Every year, I'd bring up the idea with my girls and the response would be, "Sure, but let's go here or there first." Year in, year out. That is, until this year, when I decided to just go ahead by myself - well, with Coco in tow. While prepping for our tiny cabin stay, I figured that since we had time on our hands, we would make a stop to see the Rock Garden on the way to the cabin. 

The Rock Garden is a free garden exhibit consisting of over 50 miniature sculptures of historic structures, castles, and cathedrals. The sculptures are made of pebbles, shells, tiles, glass and other materials. The buildings started as a game by Dewitt Boyd for his children and grandchildren. Over the years, more structures have been added with Mr Boyd's family and other volunteers helping with construction. The garden sits on land behind (and owned) by the Calhoun Seventh Day Adventist Church. While visiting is free, donations are highly encouraged and welcome to help preserve the Rock Garden for visitors to enjoy. Speaking of enjoyment, one of the rules was to ensure that there's NO CLIMBING any of the structures. Guess what some families did - allowed their children to CLIMB THE STRUCTURES! I was pretty miffed and at a point, had to tell some kids to get off a building - their parents were nowhere to be found. This is how some people spoil things for others - UGH!

Anyway, coming off my soapbox... sprinkled all over the garden were Bible verses and prayers, as visitors can utilize the space as a place of prayer. There was a section near the entrance where I sat with Coco and said a quiet prayer. There's also a trail and stream on the grounds that we didn't explore. I think this is a worthwhile place to visit in North Georgia - it's probably an hour and fifteen minutes away from Atlanta (without traffic). 

As per usual, I took lots of photos and I'll stop writing now, so you can marvel in the creativity of this family. 

Does the Coliseum look familiar to you?! I just realized there's also the spelling Colosseum. 

Some of the miniature buildings are near the stream, but be careful. When we walked in, a woman and her grandkids warned us that they had seen 2 snakes in the water. 

Some of the buildings even had mini people living their lives and doing routine activities.

While the buildings are miniature, they are by no means, tiny structures. A good many of them are taller than adults. 

Well, hello there, Notre Dame Cathedral! This reminds me that I never finished posting my 40th birthday solo cruise videos on Youtube... oops!

This next structure initially brought Santorini, Greece to mind, but it's actually a representation of Bethlehem.

Coco and I enjoyed our stop at the Rock Garden. I don't think the photos really do it justice, and I would encourage you to visit at your leisure. Thanks for reading :)

If you like this post, check out my other DISCOVER GEORGIA blog posts and follow me as I check out different towns and attractions here.