Hetty Jane Dunaway
A white woman wearing a dark hat and a matching fitted jacket with a high collar.
Hetty Jane Dunaway, from a 1913 publication
BornAugust 20, 1870
Conway, Arkansas, US
DiedDecember 12, 1961 (aged 91)
Newnan, Georgia, US
Other namesHettie Jane Dunaway, Hetty Jane Sewell, H. J. D. Sewell
Occupation(s)Actress, philanthropist
Notable workCreator of Dunaway Gardens in Georgia

Hetty Jane Dunaway Sewell (August 20, 1870 – December 12, 1961) was an American actress, monologuist, philanthropist and the creator of the Dunaway Gardens in rural Georgia.

Early life

Dunaway was born in Conway, Arkansas, the daughter of John D. Dunaway and Emma Frances Blackwood Dunaway.[1][2] Her father was a veteran of the Confederate States Army in the American Civil War, wounded at Murfreesboro.[3] She attended the University of Kansas and the Curry School of Expression in Boston.[4]

The entrance to the Roscoe-Dunaway Gardens Historic District, photographed in 2014

Career

Dunaway had a popular monologue and musical comedy act on the Chautauqua circuit.[5][6][7] She was perhaps best known for her performances of The Lady of the Decoration, a story set in Japan,[8][9] which she performed for passengers on a train from Kansas City to Los Angeles in 1913, hired by the Santa Fe Railway Company.[10] She wrote plays including The Flapper Grandmother (1924),[11] Cupid Up to Date (1927),[12] Mrs. and Mr. Polly Tickk (1927),[13] What Do the People Want? (1927),[14] and The Little Stranger (1929), and songs, including "When You're Waltzing with the One You Love" (1959).[15]

Dunaway spent eighteen years overseeing construction of Dunaway Gardens, a "theater-garden" on her husband's family's former plantation in rural Georgia. It included twelve spring-fed pools, a waterfall, sunken and hanging gardens, lodgings and a tea room.[16] The construction had employed many people who were paid 50 cents each day to help.[17] Dunaway opened the grounds in 1934 as a performing arts training center for performers and other professionals.[16][18] Minnie Pearl was one of the instructors.[19] There was a 400-seat theater and another open-air amphitheater that could seat 1,000 people. The hole for the swimming pool had been blasted out of the rock using dynamite and the pool was filled by one of the seven springs.[17]

The gardens were a success and they attracted celebrities including Tallulah Bankhead and Walt Disney.[19] Dunaway herself was said to always dress well as if she was always about to appear on the stage.[17] One local historian noted that television and improved roads, which enable people to travel to Atlanta to eat and see shows, reduced the interest in Dunaway Gardens through the 1950s. It closed in the 1960s.[17]

Personal life

Dunaway married Atlanta actor and booking agent Wayne Pendleton Sewell in 1916.[1] They lived on his family's property near Roscoe, Georgia. Dunaway died in 1961, aged 91 years, in Newnan, Georgia.[4][20]

After her death, the Dunaway Gardens closed, and deteriorated under an overgrowth of kudzu,[17] until it was purchased in 2000, restored and reopened in 2003.[21] The site is open for tourists, hosts weddings and other events, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.[22][23]

References

  1. 1 2 "Talented Arkansas Woman and Husband, Married at Conway". Daily Arkansas Gazette. October 8, 1916. p. 30. Retrieved April 16, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ "Miss Dunaway to Wed". Daily Arkansas Gazette. September 21, 1916. p. 4. Retrieved April 16, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Prominent Arkansas Pioneer is Dead". Hot Springs New Era. January 20, 1916. p. 1. Retrieved April 16, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. 1 2 "Mrs. W. P. Sewell Rites Held; Dunaway Founder". The Atlanta Constitution. December 14, 1961. p. 10. Retrieved April 16, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "Hetty Jane Dunaway theatrical brochure". University of Georgia Libraries. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
  6. ↑ Parlette, Ralph Albert (September 1919). "Hetty Jane's Unusual Company". The Lyceum Magazine. 29: 28–29.
  7. ↑ "List of Select Folks" Lyceumite and Talent Magazine 6(March 1913): 86.
  8. ↑ "Impressive Dramatic Production by Hetty Jane Dunaway". News and Citizen. July 19, 1922. p. 1. Retrieved April 16, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "Dunaways Pleased Auditorium Audience". The Houston Post. January 6, 1913. p. 14. Retrieved April 16, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Miss Dunaway Chosen". Daily Arkansas Gazette. May 14, 1913. p. 7. Retrieved April 16, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ Dunaway, Hettie Jane (1924). The Flapper Grandmother ...: Play in Three Acts. Music Introduced ... Musical Comedy. Mrs. Wayne P. Sewell.
  12. ↑ Library of Congress Copyright Office (1928). Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [B] Group 2. Pamphlets, Etc. New Series. p. 156.
  13. ↑ Library of Congress Copyright Office (1928). Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [B] Group 2. Pamphlets, Etc. New Series. p. 163.
  14. ↑ Library of Congress Copyright Office (1928). Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [B] Group 2. Pamphlets, Etc. New Series. p. 170.
  15. ↑ Library of Congress Copyright Office (1960). Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series. p. 1664.
  16. 1 2 "Hetty Jane Dunaway: Actress from Roscoe". Explore Coweta. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 Robinson, Bill (December 11, 1997). "Kudzu Covers the Remnants of an Actress's Elegant Dream". The Atlanta Constitution. p. 271. Retrieved April 16, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ "History". Dunaway Gardens. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
  19. 1 2 "Digging a Garden, Unearthing a Treasure: The Rediscovery of Dunaway Gardens | National Trust for Historic Preservation". savingplaces.org. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  20. ↑ "Wayne P. Sewell Rites to be at Newnan Today". The Atlanta Constitution. April 5, 1965. p. 32. Retrieved April 16, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ↑ Andy Johnston (August 16, 2016). "Actual Factual Georgia: Dunaway Gardens restored to former glory". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
  22. ↑ Dembling, Sophia (March 11, 2015). "Digging a Garden, Unearthing a Treasure: The Rediscovery of Dunaway Gardens". Saving Places; National Trust for Historic Preservation. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
  23. ↑ Dembling, Sophia (May 1, 2011). "Determined Women Keep Gardens in Bloom". The Miami Herald. p. 65. Retrieved April 16, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
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