How a rural Georgia folk art sanctuary preserves history and strengthens its local economy

In rural northwest Georgia, a four-acre stretch of reclaimed land offers a place where discarded objects, religious devotion and artistic expression come together.

Paradise Garden, the visionary environment created by the late Howard Finster, has become both a landmark of American outsider art and an important cultural institution in Chattooga County. Finster, a Baptist preacher and handyman, began developing the site in his late 50s after what he described as a divine instruction to create sacred art. By the time of his death in 2001, he had produced more than 46,000 works.

“You don’t have to be 16 years old and have this idea and go to art school — you can be 59 years old,” said Davia Weatherill, executive director of the Paradise Garden Foundation. “I think it’s a wonderful lesson for senior citizens out there that it’s never too late.”

Preserving a Living Environment

Finster transformed salvaged typewriters, bicycle frames, scrap metal and other discarded materials into mosaic pathways, outdoor galleries and the five-story World’s Folk Art Church. His use of unconventional materials, including industrial tractor enamel, creates significant preservation challenges in Georgia’s humid climate.

“The artwork and the landscape are inseparable,” Weatherill said. “Every mosaic, every mural, sculpture pathway in every building that Howard created, it’s always facing threats from the weather, time deterioration, and so preservation is not optional, it’s our responsibility.”

For those maintaining the property, Paradise Garden is more than a collection of Finster’s work. It also serves as a record of the community that helped shape it.

“So much of what’s in the mosaic garden are pieces from other people in Summerville: they donated it, so it is also an archive of Summerville,” said Mary Shewan, operations manager and curatorial archivist. “He didn’t view himself as a Noah, but he wanted a safe space for everyone. I think, in a similar way, that’s the Southern ‘y’all-come-back-now’ culture.”

Community Roots and Economic Vitality

The Appalachian Regional Commission classifies Chattooga County as economically distressed, placing it among communities facing high poverty and unemployment. Paradise Garden offers free admission to local residents while attracting visitors whose spending contributes to the surrounding rural economy.

“We try to spark the economic engines because that’s equally important to us: that we’re located in a thriving community, and that our community members are doing well,” Weatherill said.

For residents who grew up around Finster’s work, Paradise Garden is less a distant art attraction than a familiar part of local history.

“The really cool thing about Chattooga County is that all of their grandparents knew Howard,” Shewan said. “They do not view it as this four-acre art environment. They know it as the place the guy who built their granddaddy’s bikes worked at and made.”