The Crescent

A slice of history from a historical landmark

by Dean Poling • photos by Wes Sewell

Strange seeing a Swiss family pull up to The Crescent, a building they believe, like so many area folks also wrongly think, is something from the fictional Civil War of Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With the Wind.”

The Crescent is not a remnant of the Civil War, though its history is no less fascinating. Nor is it any less a testament to times past.

While it becomes a familiar site for regular travelers along North Patterson Street, a regular gathering place for weddings and receptions, for flower shows and ceremonies, The Crescent still attracts visitors from across the state, the nation and from points around the world.

The Swiss family, for example, happened to be passing through a few years ago. They drove up shortly after a bus tour. All attracted to The Crescent’s splendor, the architecture, and its touchstone to histories both real and perceived.

The building is the jewel among the structures of the Garden Center, a collection of area garden clubs that calls The Crescent, the center, their home.

A Garden Center letter once described the building’s connection to Valdosta-Lowndes County: “The Crescent is the symbol most often used in publicizing Valdosta and also the entire South Georgia region. It is the premier local site to which visitors are directed and has hosted tourists from throughout the United States as well as many foreign countries. The Crescent is the lovely setting of numerous weddings and other social events each year.”

The passage touches upon a truth. It is hard to imagine a Valdosta without The Crescent. Yet, that almost happened, too, in The Crescent’s century-plus history. A history that started as a home.

The Crescent was once the house of Col. William S. West and his family. Born Aug. 23, 1849 in Marion County, Ga., the young West with his parents and siblings moved to a part of Lowndes County that later became Brooks County, according to the local General James Jackson Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution’s book, “History of Lowndes County Georgia 1825-1941.”

Eventually, West became an attorney setting up a Lowndes County practice in 1883. He served as a General Assembly representative and senator from Lowndes County; he rose to become the speaker of the state senate. In 1914, West became a Georgia senator, sent to Congress by gubernatorial appointment.

His home, The Crescent, built circa 1898 along North Patterson Street, became a reflection of West’s success.

The Crescent was the first home in Lowndes County to have electric lights, indoor plumbing and central heating. The large oaks that dominate the grounds now were planted after The Crescent was built; the house was not built around the trees as many people assume.

By the middle of the 20th century, The Crescent was one of several local buildings earmarked for demolition as one in a series of projects that would remove numerous historic structures from the city before the historic-preservation movement gained local ground in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Yet, The Crescent received a preservation movement of its own in the early 1950s.

In 1945, at the end of World War II, local garden clubs pushed to beautify Valdosta. It was during this era that the Valdosta City Council approved the nickname of “The Azalea City of Georgia” for Valdosta, according to The Garden Center’s written history.

In the late ‘40s, the garden clubs established the study of wild flowers and the creation of wild-flower gardens throughout the city. Flower-arrangement and horticultural lessons were conducted, and the united local garden clubs were recognized on the state and national levels for their endeavors. By 1949, the local Garden Club represented seven circles.

Following this growth and influence, the Garden Club learned of the potential fate of demolition for The Crescent in the early 1950s. Through the efforts of members Mrs. Leonard Mederer, Mrs. T.H. Smith and Mrs. R.B. Whitehead, the Garden Club purchased The Crescent in 1951, making the Wests’ former home the new restoration project of the Garden Club.

At approximately this same time, the Garden Club was reorganized as the Garden Center representing seven local garden clubs. In 1952, the Garden Center was incorporated. In 1953, the Garden Center Inc. was federated with the Garden Club of Georgia and National Garden Clubs Inc. And, in 1954, the Garden Center Inc. received the outstanding-achievement trophy for The Crescent project, and Mederer, Smith and Whitehead were voted the Garden Center’s first life members.

From 1951-1983, Garden Center fund-raising was dedicated to completing the major restoration work on The Crescent. In 1980, The Crescent was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, according to Garden Center history. In 1997, Hyta Mederer, last of the center’s original life members, passed away.

Through the years, The Crescent has become a staple of Valdosta’s life and scenery. Its history has many stories from being featured in principal shooting for a Jamie Lee Curtis movie called “As Summers Die” to being the location of numerous memories for many Valdostans.



cutline: Susan Barron and James LePlant exchange vows.

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