Thursday, July 1, 2021

Notre Dame Cathedral - The Rock Garden

 
Notre Dame Cathedral

No, we did not 'fly' to Paris ... it was only a 9 mile drive to the other side of Calhoun to "The Rock Garden", located behind (and associated with) the Seventh-day Adventist Church.  

Entrance to The Rock Garden

The Rock Garden is free to visit, although there is a donation box at the end for those who wish to help support this exhibit.  The parking lot of the church is paved, but the parking lot of the Garden is gravel, with around 20 parking spaces.  "IF" full, you can always park in the church parking lot and walk down to the Garden, less than 1/10th of a mile away.

O Little Town of Bethlehem

The first Rock exhibit after you enter the Garden is the O Little Town of Bethlehem exhibit.  The impressive thing about the Rock Garden is that although it has a spiritual theme, not all of the exhibits are of religious items.  

Close up portion of 'O Little Town of Bethlehem'

The detail put into each of these exhibits is just amazing.  (If you click on any picture you will a larger version of the picture...the picture above is even larger.)  The Garden is the inspiration of Dewitt Boyd, also known as "Old Dog", and his wife Joyce, who joined in on the action later.  For more info on how and why The Rock Garden was made, check out Wikipedia or do a Google Search.

Prayer Garden Bench

On the other side of Bethlehem is an enclosed area with a canopy of greenery where one could sit and contemplate, meditate, or pray.  It is very serene.

Prayer Garden looking back to Bethlehem

Although around a dozen people were in the Rock Garden, I could hardly hear anything in the Prayer Garden area...it was very peaceful.

Along the pathways, there are little unnamed castles, or in some cases, towns. 

There is a brochure which includes a map of the Garden, including the names of prominent features.  Up to this point, the pathway was fairly ok for Marcia's GoGo or walker...but unfortunately ... 

... the pathway gets narrow, VERY narrow.  I was by myself, telling Marcia that "IF" it was ADA accessible AND if it was worth the return visit, I would bring her to it.  Well, it was good she stayed in the motorhome.  Too bad it is not accessible, and as a 'Religious Site' it does not need to be ADA, (religious entities are completely exempt from Title III of the ADA).  It is too bad that they did not think about people with disabilities when they put this together.

Dover Castle

With over 50 Castles, I can't share each and everyone of them...for one thing, I did not take a picture of each little Castle that was just along the pathways.  Below I will post some of the larger exhibits with their names.

Lighthouse

Castle of Rejoicing






Martin Luther Monastery

Castle of Angels

Church Hill Castle

Castle of my Heart

Notre Dame Cathedral 

The Cathedral above shows the detail that is put into all of these exhibits.  Below is the inside of the Cathedral.

Inside Notre Dame Cathedral



Camelot Castle & Bridge to Nowhere


Children's Castle

Coliseum

Coliseum

Jerusalem (exhibit unfinished)

The Cross (outside the gates of Jerusalem)

I hope this gives you an idea of just how intricate and detailed this entire collection of exhibits are.  If you are ever in the area, it is worth the hour or so to enjoy looking it over.  It is located behind the Seventh-day Adventist Church on Highway 53, just southwest of Calhoun Georgia.


Note:  Our faucet head came in today...fit like a charm.




6 comments:

  1. Great find! We'll have to go see this next time we're in Georgia even though my wheelchair won't fit down all of the paths.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought of you (and Marcia, of course) when I realized that the trails were not ADA accessible. About the only thing 'bad' about the entire place.

      Delete
  2. What a fascinating little place. I wonder what they used for the structure on which to cement the rocks? There's a lot of work involved with that. GREAT find!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I saw something that said he tried various combinations of cement and adhesives, but I just did not pay much attention to that part of it...I was fascinated with the details of each one...it is amazing.

      Delete
  3. Wow, think of how much time went into each of those sculptures? Very impressive!

    ReplyDelete

We love to hear comments from our readers. All comments are moderated by Dave before added to the website. Spam, advertisers and rude comments are deleted, and due to high spam attempts, Anonymous Users cannot post, sorry....register for a Google ID, it is free and it is easy. Go to: Get Google ID