CARROLLTON CITY HALL PARK
Carrollton, Georgia
The history of a place informs many of our landscape designs. The City of Carrollton Parks & Recreation decided to create a downtown park next to their City Hall. The razed site was formerly the old Tabernacle Baptist Church and measured 100’ x 200’. Carrollton was historically linked to the cotton industry so it was important to include elements in the landscape that acknowledged their past. The proposed walls along the front of the park were designed to mimic the walls of the brick warehouses that stored the cotton. The design also included brick, freestanding walls as the backdrop to the park. The City commissioned Henry Setter to create a sculpture of a cotton farmer sitting on a bale of cotton to be placed in the park. The sculpture was surrounded by a small field of cotton. Indigenous trees and shrubs filled in between the circular paths to create a beautiful and shady place to relax.
STONE MOUNTAIN WALK UP PLAZA
Stone Mountain, GA
The history of this project also informed our landscape design for the Stone Mountain Walk Up Plaza, Stone Mountain. The dome of Stone Mountain was formed during the formation of the Blue Ridge Mountains around 300–350 million years ago, part of the Appalachian Mountains (per the Stone Mountain History). It was formed as a result of the upwelling of magma from within the Earth's crust. This magma solidified to form granite within the Earth’s crust five to ten miles below the surface.
The summit of the mountain can be reached by a walk-up trail on the west side of the mountain. The Stone Mountain Association wanted to transform the area between the parking lot and the Walk up trail. It was void of any seating or interest. Reimagining the area as a series of granite low retaining walls that visually looked like they fit together at one time, became the Walk-Up Plaza. These walls created places for visitors to gather, to linger, and to rest before and after the hike up the mountain. Plantings were selected by the on site horticulturist who mostly used native plantings.