The Eastman Garden Club was organized in March 1936 with Mrs. Jay Gould Williamson as president and became federated with the Garden Club of Georgia in 1938. The Eastman Garden Club was a prime motivator and contributor toward the establishment of Eastman’s Community House during the WPA era of 1938. Established goals of the Club during its fifty-six year history are (1) Community House erection and equipment, (2) Beautification of Community Park, (3) Railroad right-of-way planting and cemetery beautification, (4) Lighted doorways and Christmas trees, (5) Plant exchanges, (6) Monthly exhibits and flower shows, (7) Garden calendars and horticultural project and (8) Garden Tour.
Eastman’s first flower show was held May 10, 1939, and the first four members to complete a judging course were Mrs. Fred Bennett, Mrs. John J. Brown, Mrs. Kathleen Carswell, and Miss Fannie Harris Edwards. In the late forties and fifties Mrs. John Hardin, Mrs. John Brown and Mrs. Chester Saunders became fully accredited state flower show judges and judged together throughout this section of the state.
The Eastman Garden Club is an aggressive and alert club and therefore has received much recognition and many awards throughout the state. The Club engaged the nationally recognized lecturer, Dorothy Biddle, to conduct a workshop and the well-known arranger, Grady Wright. Also, the Club held a spectacular flower show in 1947, the first in the area. More recently, the Club has promoted many ideas and activities such as: Garden of the Month award, Plant Sales, Community Clean-Up project, Arbor Day and landscape project such as a designed flower bed at the hospital and a complete landscape planting at the County Courthouse. The most spectacular project was the designing and implementation of Christmas decorations for the entire courthouse.
Those who have served as president of the Club are: Mrs. Jay Gould Williamson, Mrs. Fred R. Bennett, Miss Fannie Harris Edwards, Mrs. C. A. Ragan, Mrs. Chester Saunders, Mrs. John Hardin, Mrs. Grady Coffee, Mrs. A. T. Coffee, Mrs. D. D. Smith, Mrs. E. E. Yawn, Mrs. R. F. Burch, Mrs. Wilton Harrington, Mrs. Jesse Anderson, Mrs. Bill Stuckey, Mrs. A. L. Steele, Mrs. Donald Purser, Mrs. Jim Frost, Mrs. Al Wyre, Mrs. I. G. Faulk, Mrs. Bobby Shell, Mrs. Gary Yawn, Mrs. Darrell Lumpkin, Mrs. Donald Garrison, Mrs. Burns Rockwell, Mrs. Jerry Sloan, Mrs. John Bargeron, Mrs. C. E. Gibbons, Mrs. L. M. Coffee, Jr., Mrs. Edward Smith, and Mrs. Richard Osmus.