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etty Jane Dunaway is perhaps best known today for planting the seeds that became Dunaway Gardens. At the same Roscoe Road location, she also planted the seeds that would flower into the modern-day Newnan performing arts community. The Chautauqua actress appeared in musical touring shows, long before the days of television, starring as “the charming Flapper Grandma” and “The Lady of the Decoration.” When she married theatrical producer Wayne P. Sewell, they settled in northern Coweta County and she began work on her gardens, which some called the finest rock garden in America. In the ’20s, ’30s and ’40s, Dunaway Gardens served as a center for a bustling arts community, attracting sculptors, artists and
performers from throughout the U.S. But by the spring of 1956, when a group of aspiring Newnan thespians decided to form the Newnan Playmakers, the gardens had begun to fall into disrepair. The Playmakers, however, could think of no place more fitting than Dunaway to host their productions. “We talked to Ms. Hetty Jane because we knew that she used to put on plays,” recalls Herb Bridges, first president of the Playmakers and the group’s de facto historian. “The gardens had gone downhill because of a lack of labor. If I remember correctly, her husband, Mr. Sewell, was in a wheelchair at that time. But Ms. Hetty Jane, she was just such a character.” She offered the use of her barn, the Patchwork Playhouse. The Playmakers saw they had a lot of work to do before they could
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