Get fairy dusted at Georgia's Barnsley Gardens
ADAIRSVILLE, Ga. -- Once upon a time at Barnsley Gardens in the foothills of Georgia's Blue Ridge Mountains lived a fairy godmother. Her singular purpose, she would tell you, was to make dreams come true. She would then wave her magic wand and grant those wishes, leaving sparkles of silvered fairy dust and believing in a happily ever after world.
Only this is no fairy tale. The Fairy Godmother really does exist at Barnsley Gardens Resort, about 60 miles north of Atlanta. Her name is Denise Webb and the words "Fairy Godmother" are actually inscribed on her business card. It is indeed her job to create your own sort of resort version of Fantasy Island, and she does sprinkle her own special fairy dust on anyone who will stand still long enough. You just have to love it, right?
The Fairy Godmother can arrange any special occasion for you, from a romantic night under the stars with champagne and chocolate to your own parade to wedding proposals. Because in actuality the Fairy Godmother is the concierge of Barnsley Gardens, a gorgeous and pet-friendly resort set upon 1,400 acres in the verdant, rolling hills of North Georgia.
"Children want to be treated as adults, and adults want to be treated like children," she states, her eyes glittering like those of a fairy and tossing a few sprinkles of glittering dust my way. "That's part of what I do in helping to fulfill those dreams."
In addition to making dreams coming true and providing luxurious lodgings with extras like wood-burning fireplaces, claw-foot tubs, rocking chair porches, and Egyptian cotton sheets, Barnsley Gardens also has world class golf at the Jim Fazio-designed 18-hole course, a European-style spa, and gourmet cuisine.
But it is its compelling history that sets it apart from other legendary Southern mountain resorts like the Grove Park Inn or the Greenbrier.
Underneath the fabric of Barnsley Gardens lies one of the greatest love stories to ever come from the Old South. Today's resort was once part of a 4,000-acre estate belonging to Godfrey Barnsley, an Englishman who came to the Georgia coast in 1824, and who became one of the South's most prosperous merchants primarily through King Cotton. His wife was the former Julia Scarborough of Savannah.
Barnsley's plan was to build Julia a castle-like Italianate mansion in the cooler climates of the mountain wilderness near Adairsville, some 300 miles away from the hot and humid coast. The home would be accented by a wealth of gardens inspired by Andrew Jackson Downing, an American horticulturalist and landscaper who designed, among other places, portions of the White House grounds and Washington's Lafayette Square.
But darned if Julia didn't up and die at age 35 of consumption before the three-story manse was complete, and her brokenhearted hubby just abandoned the estate.
"The home was considered one of the most beautiful and historic places east of the Mississippi during its day," says Clent Coker, Barnsley's historian and museum director. "It was a real treasure."
Returning a year later to the half-built "treasure," legend holds that Julia's ghost appeared to Barnsley in the fountain of the gardens and instructed him to complete the home for their children. Apparently not one to say no to a ghost, he took her up on her offer.
Misfortune befell Barnsley again, though. As with many Southerners who stuffed their mattresses with Confederate dollars, his fortune was wiped out by the War Between the States, and Yankee soldiers, on their march from Chattanooga to Atlanta, ravaged the home to where the once grand manor was grand no more.
The real beginning of the end came when a tornado ripped through North Georgia in 1906, and in an instant the roof of the mansion was gone with the wind. Barnsley's descendants continued to live there, mostly in the less-damaged kitchen wing, but over the years, parts of the estate were auctioned or sold off or abandoned, with the home deteriorating to not much more than a pile of bricks in a landscape overgrown with tangled masses of forests and weeds.
Enter Prince Hubertus Fugger-Babenhausen of Germany. He bought the estate and 1,300 acres of the property, and thus began the transformation to the luxury resort it is today.
"At that time the prince bought it in 1988, it looked like the Amazon in here," says Coker. "It was just a kudzu mountain."
More than 20 years later, there's still kudzu here and there (this is Georgia, after all, and there will always be kudzu), but the remaining acreage now resembles a 19th-century English village complete with one- to seven-bedroom luxury cottages and fully restored gardens. The skeleton of the Barnsley home remains in the resort's historic district, the roof still gone, its red brick bleached to pale golden brown by intense southern sun.
The resort is highlighted by golf and spa, but there are myriad outdoor activities like bicycling, canoeing, kayaking, horseback riding, and fly-fishing. There's also a museum dedicated to the Barnsley family, paintball, campfires, shooting grounds, Frisbee golf that combines Frisbees with fairways, a fitness center, swimming pool, tennis courts, and even a helicopter landing pad.
Barnsley begs to be hiked, and the star of the show is the gardens now resplendent with heirloom roses, plants and trees from all corner of the world including Cedars of Lebanon and redwoods, and boxwoods planted some 170 years ago. You'll want to see them all, including the massive Lotus Garden where, explains the Fairy Godmother, good little fairies sleep amid the blossoms.
Special events include wine dinners, spring planting events, and a new tradition called "Firefly Night at the Ruins" where you can chase these little "lightnin' bugs" among the ruins.
Barnsley Gardens, now owned by investors from nearby Dalton, offers several dining options, too. The casual Beer Garden is for comfort food like sausages, pretzels, and an ice-cold brew. For more upscale dining, the Rice House, housed in an 1854 farmhouse that still bears the scars of a Civil War battle, offers a creative dinner menu showcasing prime beef, fresh fish and wild game. And in the tradition of an English hunting lodge, the Woodlands Grill tempts not only with great food but also sweeping views of the golf course and surrounding countryside.
Past guests of Barnsley Gardens have included Reese Witherspoon, Candice Bergen, Samuel L. Jackson and Patrick Dempsey, who called it a "magical little piece of property."
It is magical, and if you don't believe me or Patrick Dempsey, just ask the Fairy Godmother. With just a toss of fairy dust, she'll convince you.
Additional Information:
If you go
For more information, contact Barnsley Gardens Resort at 597 Barnsley Gardens Road, Adairsville, Ga. 30103. Visit the Web site or call 877-773-2447.
The nearest airports are Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tenn.
