April and May are the high season for the Gardens, with all of the flowers in bloom. It is also the high season for weddings and other events, and this makes seeking on weekend afternoons and evenings iffy.
Few people today have ever heard of Cator Woolford, but in the early 1900’s he was a prominent member of the society elite in Atlanta. He was co-founder of Atlanta Retail Credit Company (now Equifax) and used part of his fortune to build this 33-acre estate and mansion in the historic Ponce de Leon area of Atlanta. The formal garden on his estate, known as The Secret Garden, was created by the renowned landscape architect Robert B. Cridland of Philadelphia.
At his death in the 1940’s, Cator left his property to charity, with the provision that his garden be kept open to the public. The gardens were renovated in 1997, and are now extensively used for wedding receptions, corporate events and the like, but remain open to the public as well.
Come and see Cator’s beautiful garden, and find our cache.
There is a small parking area, enter from the side street at 46.315/19.673. Gates are locked at dusk. During warm weather, avoid Friday evening and Saturday and Sunday afternoon and evening, as the site is likely to be full of party guests. Cache is located in the woods at the north end of the grounds. If there is an event in progress, you can access the cache without disturbing anyone by using a steep walking trail that starts on Ponce at 46.319/19.568, or a golf cart trail that starts at 46.267/19.496. However, if you do this, come back another day to enjoy the beautiful gardens.
Site is wheelchair and stroller accessible from the parking lot to within 20 feet or so of the cache location, so this is family friendly. In keeping with the family friendly theme, the contents are kids stuff as well: Pokemon cards, body glitter, plastic dino, fuzzy dice, bubbles, toe rings, modeling clay, tattoos and a custom "Geocaching Mix" audio CD by Frogger.
See also Cator, Three!, the resurrected home of our archived "Cator's Place" cache.
Thanks
This cache was originally placed by BigDoggie & Frogger.
2/10/08: This cache has gone through several owners; I was happy to adopt it from Ga Cacher. (Professor Shorthair)