Rock Garden Calhoun

This wondrous rock garden tucked behind a church in Calhoun, Georgia, is full of miniature creations of iconic towns, castles, cathedrals, bridges, and even the Colosseum. 

Home to more than 50 diminutive structures, the garden's miniature replicas are crafted from tiny stones, shells, broken glass, wire, cement, and other craft materials. A stroll through the garden takes visitors to Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral—complete with stained glass windows—to awe-inspiring castles constructed of pebbles and shells. Porcelain people populate various rooms and nooks throughout the structures, while small porcelain animals dot the landscape. 

The builder of this whimsical garden was DeWitt "Old Dog" Boyd, one of the members of the Calhoun Seventh Day Adventist Church. A hobbyist at heart, Boyd began creating tiny, whimsical villages for his eight children as a family game. Each time his family moved, Boyd would reconstruct a tiny village for his children, who each had an alter-ego porcelain figure to play with. Then in 2007, Boyd began the rock garden in Calhoun, saying "it was to keep me out of trouble, I'm kind of a scoundrel."

Today, the rock garden is a family endeavor and has been crafted by Boyd, his children, and their children. The free garden is located behind the Calhoun Seventh Day Adventist Church, and there are religious themes to some of the constructions. One of the towns represents Bethlehem; the Ten Commandments tablets are embedded, broken, in one of the walkways; and some other places have scriptures inscribed in walkways or walls.