About
Garden Club of Lookout Mountain

The Garden Club of Lookout Mountain was founded in 1916. In 1923 the Garden Club of Lookout became a member of The Garden Club of America and the first GCA club in Zone IX.

The purpose of The Garden Club of America is to stimulate the knowledge and love of gardening, to share the advantages of the association by means of educational meetings, conferences, correspondence and publications, and to restore, improve and protect the quality of the environment through educational programs and action in the fields of conservation and civic improvements.

Over the years our club has strived to maintain the purpose of GCA membership. We were principals in the restoration of Cravens House, a Civil War historic site on the side of the mountain.
We remolded our village center, built a retaining wall at the Town Common and planted the playground with trees and decorative plants. To raise awareness of our area’s natural resources and the need to preserve them, we developed and produced a multi-media program entitled “Our Earth: Our Backyard” which we took to elementary schools, churches, and civic clubs in the area.

We worked hard for The Nature Center and in 1982 received the Founders Fund Award to build a walkway for the handicap at the center. “Down to Earth”, a book of gardening tips written by Martha Law was first published in 1984. This book is presently a revised 5th edition. We worked with the town of Lookout to clean up and plant The Natural Bridge Park. We redesigned and renovated Temple Park. We partner with the town of Lookout Mountain to oversee and maintain these two parks along with several other of our pocket parks on Lookout. Our new members water, plant, and decorate the town’s commercial area seasonally.

We have begun working with two public schools on Lookout Mountain to implement into the school curriculum “Coming Around the Mountain with Kidzu and Kudzu”, a coloring book about invasive plants, written by two of our club’s members.
Currently we are working with The Lookout Mountain Conservancy to raise community awareness of the detrimental effects of exotic invasive plants with the ultimate goal of eradicating such species. We also work with The Lookout Mountain Conservancy beautifying the roadways up the mountain. We partner with this group on a project in which public high school students at Howard High are working to clean up a waste site at the foot of Lookout Mountain filled with invasive plants. Our club re-instituted and chairs The Council of Lookout Mountain Parks composed of representatives from the five garden clubs on Lookout Mountain and the Lookout Mountain Town Council. Its purpose is to provide a communication link between the groups involved to work together on our community’s needs.

As we approach our 100th anniversary of our founding and 92 years as a GCA club, we must reflect on our assets. We have it all: a beautiful mountain replete with natural flora and fauna and wonderful members who join in education, good works, fellowship and fun.