Fact Sheet - Bellingrath Gardens and Home  

• Bellingrath Gardens and Home is open 364 days a year, closing only on Christmas Day, and is open from 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM, except during Magic Christmas in Lights (Day after Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve) when the Gardens remain open until 9 p.m.

• Bellingrath Gardens and Home encompasses approximately 900 acres along the Fowl River.  Sixty-five acres are cultivated with annual blooms and continuous color.
  
  
• Guests may enjoy a tour of the Bellingrath Home, the Rose Gardens, Asian-American Garden, formal garden terraces, Ecological Bayou Boardwalk and take 45-minute cruises aboard the Southern Belle River Cruiser daily.

• Special events and weddings are held throughout the year on property.
  
  
• Walter D. Bellingrath was Mobile’s first Coca-Cola bottler.

• Bellingrath Gardens was originally known as Belle Camp and intended to be a fishing camp for Walter D. Bellingrath.
  
  
• Walter D. Bellingrath and Bessie Morse Bellingrath opened their gardens to the public for the first time on April 7, 1932.  A major traffic jam ensued and admission was charged thereafter for maintenance of the Gardens.
  
  
• The 10,500 square foot Bellingrath Home was completed in July 1936.  It features all of its original furnishings from Mrs. Bellingrath and was designed by architect George B. Rogers.
  
  
• Bessie Morse Bellingrath died in 1943 at the age of 64.  Walter D. Bellingrath died in 1955 at the age of 86. 
  
  
• Walter D. Bellingrath founded the Bellingrath-Morse Foundation at the age of 80.  The foundation benefits Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn., Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Ala. and Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Ala.