Civil Municipal - Oct 2023

185 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 10 TROUP COUNT Y, GEORGIA the 1930s on land that had been worn out from 100 years of cotton cultivation. They wanted to “create a garden so beautiful that it would make visitors want to go home and lead better lives. ”After years of bulldozing, damming streams, planting soil-regenerating crops, and landscaping, the renovated grounds opened in 1952 with 20,000 new trees, shrubs, and native flowers. In 2022, Callaway Gardens was purchased by Herschend Family Entertainment, a privately owned themed entertainment company, with plans to invest over $20 million over the next several years on renovations and other improvements. Other area attractions include the Great Wolf Lodge, a 470-room hotel with a 100,000-sq.-ft. indoor water park. “It’s a huge draw for tourism,” Mosley states. “Hundreds of thousands of people flock