Browse The Estate

The Entrance Building, constructed in 1981, welcomes all guests to Bellingrath Gardens & Home. Start your journey here and get information about events, ticketing, tours of the Bellingrath Museum Home, group tours, and wheelchair and stroller rentals.

The Magnolia Café is open for lunch from 11 am to 2 pm with a limited rotating menu. Sandwiches, salads, and a hot meal are available each day, 7 days a week.

Bellingrath Gift Shop offers a variety of gifts and souvenirs representing the beauty of the Gardens, including jewelry, hats, scarves, purses, gardening tools and accessories, porcelain treasures, stationery, candles and household decor. Open 8 am to 5 pm daily.

The Rose Garden was constructed in 1936 as a formal area in which to showcase one of the most beloved flowers in the plant kingdom. Since Mr. Bellingrath was a founding member of the Rotary Club of Mobile, he decided to design this garden as a tribute to the Rotary’s ideals using the shape of the lapel pin he always wore as a design inspiration. More than 1,000 plants representing dozens of rose cultivars grow in this garden.

The Conservatory was built in 1935 to grow and showcase exotic tropical plants which even in Mobile's mild climate would not survive a typical winter. Originally, a coal-fired boiler, located in the adjacent brick building, provided heat for this historic "Lord and Burnham" greenhouse. Today's interior layout of the Conservatory is similar to what existed in the 1930s, although the plants have changed over the decades. A decades-old, large pony-tail palm grows in the main rotunda of this historic structure.

The garden space now known as the Asian-American Garden was an area that was not developed in the Bellingraths' time. For a period, it served as the "Bird Sanctuary," where one could find exotic flamingos. By the late 1960s, however, plans were laid to develop a garden inspired by Japanese and Chinese cultures. Through the work of local craftspeople and Bellingrath staff, this garden came into existence. Due to the vagaries of time and weather over the past 65 years, the northern half is now closed due to visitor safety concerns, but plans are being developed to restore and embellish this treasured space for future generations.

The Gazebo Garden is being redeveloped.

Perhaps the most unique part of Belingrath Gardens is the Rockery, a stone-lined stairwell and water feature leading downhill from Live Oak Plaza to Mirror Lake. Inspired by European gardens visited by Bessie Bellingrath, she instructed George Rogers about its design details, the winding stairs, stone-lined sides, waterfall, and pools. The sandstone rocks used for the walls were quarried from the Cottage Hill area of Mobile. Bellingrath's rockery is perhaps the only one of its kind along the Gulf Coast.

The Camellia Parterre forms the initial entrance into the formal gardens inspired by the Bellingraths' 1927 overseas trip to European gardens and estates. This area celebrates Walter Bellingrath’s favorite flowering shrub, with blooms occurring from November to March. Both Walter and Bessie Bellingrath have camellias named for them.

The Great Lawn, a central feature of the Gardens, serves as beautiful open space after you walk through the Rose Garden and the masses of azaleas beyond. The Great Lawn is flanked on its western edge by the Great Lawn Border, a 400 foot-long flower bed that is planted year-round with thousands of seasonal plants. Prior to the development of the gardens, the Great Lawn served as a farm that adjoined the original Belle Camp fishing camp.

The Mermaid Fountain sits underneath a canopy of live oaks at the end of a long rectangular channel of running water (the runnel). This view forms one of the most iconic scenes throughout the entire gardens. Bordered by colorful seasonal plants throughout the year, this garden feature was designed based on common elements seen in historic British and European gardens. It is located adjacent to the Rebecca Pool.

Live Oak Plaza is the paved area between the Bellingrath Home Museum and the Delchamps Boehm Gallery building. Often serving as a central gathering space for visitors, this area originally was the driveway to the garage used by the Bellingraths, their guests, and their chauffeur (now the Delchamps Boehm Gallery).

The Grotto is one of the most iconic of the many garden features at Bellingrath Gardens. As part of the original design from George B. Rogers, the Grotto is a stone-clad structure set at the bottom of the slope downhill from the South Terrace, where it meets and empties water into the Fowl River. Long associated with historic European gardens, grottos symbolize the afterlife and serve as places of seclusion and reflection.

The current Fowl River Pavilion, built in 2006 after Hurricane Ivan destroyed the previous one in 2004, is an elegant structure that takes its design inspiration from the Crosby Arboretum's Pinecote Pavilion in Picayune, Mississippi. This accessible structure is Bellingrath's third one to offer guests an immersive and stunning view of the Fowl River, as well as waterfront views of the Bellingrath Home, the Grotto, and the Riverfront Gardens.

The Bellingrath Home was built in 1935 as a permanent residence for Walter and Bessie Bellingrath. The 15-room home was designed by renowned Mobile archirect George B. Rogers. It was built with bricks dating to 1853 and ironwork from the 1870s, all salvaged from historic structures in Mobile. Since opening to the public as a museum in 1956, the Home has been completely furnished with only the antiques and decorative objects collected by Bessie Bellingrath. Guided Home tours are available for purchase. The Bellingrath Home Museum is not accessible to wheelchairs and strollers.

After Mr. Bellingrath's death in 1955, the old fishing lodge, located adjacent to the Bellingrath Home, was torn down. A new garden, the "South Terrace" was designed and installed in the early 1960s. To most modern visitors, this area of the gardens has always been in existence, but in fact, it post-dates our founder and his wife. Expect exuberant seasonal blooms, set amid a tranquil fountain, in this lovely brick-paved space.

The East Terrace, forming the "front door" of the Bellingrath Home, looks eastward to the Fowl River. Comprised of a series of stone-clad, multi-level spaces, the East Terrace is bisected by a rectangular flower bed with a narrow runnel flowing through, all covered by a canopy of mature live oaks. The runnel disappears underneath the stone floor, reappearing from a beautiful stone container, from which the water spills over and tumbles down to the Fowl River below.

The North Terrace, overlooked by the second floor bedrooms of Walter and Bessie Bellingrath, remains for many visitors a hidden jewel of the gardens. This peaceful garden, richly clad in stacked stone and flagstone paving, is an inviting and tranquil space, a garden room within the greater gardens at Bellingrath. Make sure to seek out this special space on your stroll through the Gardens.

The Delchamps Gallery of Boehm Porcelain comprises the first floor of the Guest House, a 1939 original structure at Bellingrath Gardens that served as a six-car garage with guest quarters above. The porecelain gallery was created in 1967 to house a collection of Edward Marshall Boehm porcelain gifted to the Gardens from Mobile’s Delchamps family.

The Chapel was constructed in 1939 as a family chapel for the Bellingraths and their guests. After Mr. Bellingrath's death in 1955, it was closed. In 1981, it was restored by the Mobile Coca-Cola Bottling Company through the addition of new pews, a communion table, and leaded glass windows that feature flowers from the gardens. Today, the Chapel is available as a rental venue for small wedding ceremonies.

Mirror Lake was once a runoff pond for a 19th century sawmill on the property. The Bellingraths had it dredged and built the Mirror Lake Dam to create a tranquil lake to reflect their azaleas and other flowers. Across the lake is the Summer House, offering quiet shelter to visitors. The Lion Overlook is centered with a life-size feline created in the mid-19th century as a garden ornament for a home on Mobile’s Government Street. The Rustic Bridge offers a view of the surroundings. Along the Exit Path you will encounter the Mirror Lake Overlooks. The overlooks offer guests views back over the lake and offer excellent vantage points for photography.

Set in the shade of a stately southern magnolia, the Lion Overlook is set uphill from Mirror Lake Bridge, looking across to the Rockery. This overlook is enjoyed for its cast iron sculpture of a lion, a mid-1800s garden ornament that once graced one of the historic homes on Government Street in Mobile. Here at Bellingrath Gardens & Home, we feel confident in saying that no one has ever contemplated or been tempted to straddle the lion for a certain photo op!

Bellingrath's Dwight Harrigan ExxonMobil Bayou Boardwalk takes you on a scenic journey through the Fowl River ecosystem, offering a close-up look at native vegetation, fish, turtles, waterfowl, and other wildlife in their natural habitat.

An original feature designed by George B. Rogers and built in the late 1930s, the Summer House was inspired by similar structures common to historic European gardens that the Bellingraths observed on their travels in 1927. This historic garden feature is notable for its decorative cast iron panels and columns, topped with an open, timber-framed roof and a cupola for heat convection. Make sure to walk around Mirror Lake to its northwest side to enjoy this beautiful part of Bellingrath Gardens. This structure was last restored in 2025.

Opened in 1996, the Dwight Harrigan ExxonMobil Bayou Boardwalk is a popular feature of Bellingrath Gardens, offering you the opportunity to see the unique ecology of Bellingrath's "North Bayou." This natural waterway, located on the north side of the gardens, starts out as a blackwater stream that emerges from dense vegetation, widening into a tidal, flooded bayou replete with aquatic vegetation and associated wildlife before emptying into the Fowl River.