There are many ways to describe Dunaway Gardens: a place of beauty, history, spirituality and resilience.

It’s also a place of change. Within the next few years, the 376-acre destination in Chattahoochee Hills is expected to become a resort, but today it is already emerging as a retreat where people come for peace and inspiration.

In April, the Dunaway Gardens Foundation will host a lab for playwrights under the leadership of Philip Himberg, who led the theater program at the Sundance Institute for more than 20 years.

A cohort of eight established and emerging playwrights will spend nine days immersed in their craft against the backdrop of the gardens, waterfalls and towering trees.

“… Developmental programming like this at Dunaway Gardens directly impact the work that audiences will eventually see on stages across the U.S. and internationally,” Himberg said in an email.

“When writers have the gift of time and space, [community] and access to experienced dramaturgical input, the stories become stronger. Their craft is enriched,” he wrote. “What they have in their hearts and minds actually appears on the page and eventually the stage.”

The Playwright Lab will include Mfoniso Udofia, Doug Wright, Michael R. Jackson, Sarah Ruhl, Ricardo Perez Gonzalez, Madhuri Shekar and Esperanza Rosales Balcárcel.

Himburg said, most of the writer’s time will be working in solitude, and about 20 percent will be spent with each other, “which is equally vital to the success of this experience.”

Janice Paran will be the dramaturg-in-residence, who will guide the writers during their stay.

“Hopefully, she can inspire each writer to feel eager to take risks and try out new ideas,” Himburg said. “Janice is a kind of expert in listening and reading and getting inside the writer’s head — so she can champion their work.”

The Sundance Institute will hold its 2026 Episodic Lab at Dunaway Gardens in May.

The magic of Dunaway Gardens

Dunaway Gardens was created by musical actress Hetty Jane Dunaway, who moved to the property owned by her husband around 1916. She designed the gardens herself.

Hetty Jane took pride in helping to construct the gardens, said Dunaway Gardens owner Tena Clark, often joining workers in the dirt, planting the gardens as they built spring-fed pools, an amphitheater and other features across the property.

Clark, an acclaimed music producer, purchased the property four years ago. The previous owners undertook a major restoration in the early 2000s after the gardens had become overrun with kudzu and wisteria. Today, Clark and her team are working on a new restoration. In part, Dunaway Gardens will have a return to its earlier prominence, when Hetty Jane trained high school and college performers who became musical troupes performing around the U.S. and at Dunaway Gardens itself.

From the late 1920s to the 1940s, the property served as a resort and gathering place for figures including Walt Disney, Tallulah Bankhead and Minnie Pearl, among others.

“Being an artist and being in the entertainment industry my whole life… I felt this very creative spirit,” Clark said of when she first visited the landmark. “… There was a passion for the arts and you feel that.”

In the next few years, Clark is planning to construct a luxury retreat resort at Dunaway Gardens with a hospitality partner. Plans include a restaurant, a large wellness and healing spa, as well as an event center.

There is also a sacred and spiritual energy at Dunaway Gardens, Clark added. An acre of solid granite across a hill at the gardens, nicknamed “Little Stone Mountain,” was beloved by Native Americans who considered it a place for healing.

“Creek and Cherokee Indians would come from miles around to lay on that stone,” Clark said.

Over the last few years, more than a dozen people suffering from terminal illnesses have come to Dunaway Gardens requesting time to do the same, she said.

Clark said it brings her joy to continue Hetty Jane’s vision in designing a plan for creators.

“This is who Hetty Jane was. This is what Dunaway was,” Clark said, “She planted trees that she knew she would never sit under.”

She continued: “We’re planting. We’re creating. We’re opening spaces. We’re discovering spaces that will be a legacy… It’s not for us. It’s to give this back to this incredible place.”

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