Andy Baxter
The Rock Garden Notre Dame
Just like Rock City on Tennessee’s Lookout Mountain, Calhoun, Georgia’s rock village is a marvel. While the Tennessee Rock City, 50 miles north, is a marvel of nature; Calhoun’s is a marvel of human creativity. And it’s always free, seven days a week.
Known as the Rock Garden, the acre of flower plantings, miniature cathedrals, castles, and other whimsical constructions stands in a redbud grove behind the Calhoun Seventh-Day Adventist Church in northwestern Georgia. Cobblestone paths traverse among the 50 structures, crisscrossing a stream on intricate stone bridges.
Visitors have the sensation of becoming giants when they enter the Rock Garden. Few of the stone buildings are over four feet tall. Some are knee high. All have been artfully crafted of pebbles,shells, tiles, broken glass, cement, and wire by church member Dewitt Boyd and his crew.
Boyd, who prefers to be called “Old Dog,” says working in the garden keeps him out of trouble. He spent 27 months working on his re-creation of the Notre Dame Cathedral, complete with flying buttresses and rose window. The cathedral is wired to actually light up.
Boyd began creating tiny, whimsical villages for his eight children as a family game. Each time his family moved, Boyd would construct a tiny town for his brood, each of whom had an alter-ego figure living in the village. Then in 2007, Boyd began the rock garden in Calhoun as a peaceful meditation garden of the church.
Some of his constructions have religious themes. A walled village represents Bethlehem; scriptures are inscribed on walls or walkways, and the Ten Commandments tablets are embedded in one of the paths. Nearly 20 couples have taken their wedding vows here, including Boyd and his wife.
In addition to the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Rock Garden contains numerous cottages, churches, castles, cathedrals, and a lighthouse. Boyd has built painstakingly intricate replicas of the Roman Colosseum as well as a model of Japan’s Himeji Castle large enough for children to enter.
Each October, the garden hosts an annual lighting ceremony where the castles and other miniature buildings are lit by candlelight.
The Rock Garden can be found behind the Calhoun Seventh Day Adventist Church on 1411 Rome Road. The garden is free to enter and can be visited by the public daily from 9 a.m. to dusk. To find out more about the Rock Garden, go to facebook.com/thegardencalhoun or exploregordoncounty.com.