Our Story

Cason grew up in LaGrange, Georgia, the son of a self-made textile leader who taught him that privilege came with responsibility. He carried that work ethic into the family's cotton mill business, rising through the ranks and eventually becoming a respected voice in Georgia agriculture and industry. Alongside Virginia, he and their family spent weekends at a retreat in the Georgia countryside, a place they came to love long before it became anything more. A health scare in 1948 changed the course of his life, and he turned his full attention to that land, determined to share the same sense of peace he'd found there with everyone who visited. 

Virginia grew up in Pelham, Georgia, in a lively household where she first developed a love of plants while tending to the family's camellias and flowers. She met Cason at a party in Atlanta shortly after his return from the Navy, and the two married and settled into life together, raising a family while Cason ran the mills. Beyond her role at home, Virginia was active in her community, supporting children's education and organizing swim lessons for local kids. When she and Cason turned their attention to building the gardens, that early love of plants became her life's work: she personally directed the horticultural design, choosing the native azaleas and flowers that still line Callaway's lakeside paths today.