Georgia Southern Botanical Garden

   As a young married couple in 1915, Dan and Catharine Bland started their life together in a former tenant house that they remodeled into a homey cottage. They ran a dairy, raised livestock, and grew pecans, pears, and vegetables. They lived on the farm for almost 70 years and filled the area around their cottage with gardens of camellias, azaleas and native plants. The cottage, outbuildings, and 11 acres of land were willed to the Georgia Southern University after Dan Bland’s death in 1985.

         

          The garden is fairly small with interpretive signs along the trails and exhibits in the stalls of the mule barn about rural life in the 1920 and 30s. The cottage is not opened for tours.

       

  The garden has many small obstacles starting with large, loose gravel in the parking lot. Other problems are uneven brick paving, roots on the trails, deep mulch on the trails, and steps at every room in the mule barn blocking access to the exhibits. Visiting without having someone to give assistance when needed would be a frustrating experience.

  The parking lot is large enough for RVs. Garden  32.42183, -81.7745