William Franklin Ingram, Jr., the son and grandson of two early founders of the textile industry in Griffin, Georgia, purchased the Meadowlark property in the spring of 1939 from Frank Rodgers. The place was presumably intended as a country retreat for Mr. Ingram and his, by then, widowed mother.

Mr. Ingram's mother, Bertha Brawner Ingram, had the existing farm dwelling renovated soon after her son purchsed the property. In order to separate the house from the surrounding fields, Mrs. Ingram's gardener from the Ingram house, then located at 433 West Taylor Street in Griffin planted American boxwood cuttings across the foundation of the house, as well as two pin oaks, two Chinese elms, and several white oaks. Thus began Meadowlark Gardens.

In 1945 Mr. Ingram married Rhoda Hopson and the gardens have been expanding ever since. The young Mrs. Ingram, then scarcely 25 years old, had grown up in beautifully planted gardens at the homes of her uncle, John Morgan Dean, in both Fort Myers, Florida, and in Cranston, Rhode Island. With these memories to guide her, she began gardening as an excited artist with ample vision and canvas to spare. There was not even a lawn at Meadowlark in the early days just thousands of early yellow daffodils near the farm house.

Undaunted though, Mrs. Ingram set about to create something beautiful with little more than childhood memories from which to draw. There were no landscape plans or experienced gardeners to guide development but only the pictures in her mind.

Other houses on the property were built or repaired later primarily to care for elderly family members. First, an old tenant farm cottage, now the Tuck Box, was expanded and remodeled for Mrs. Ingram's mother and aunt. Another house, the Brick House, was built in the 1960's to care for Mr. Ingram's mother. Jeff Holland, today Meadowlark's senior caretaker, spent most of his life and raised his children with his wife, Marie, in the Gate House. The Gate House was remodeled in the 1980's when the Holland's moved to their new home nearby. In the mid-1980's, the Mill House became the first house constructed purely for rental purposes. Each home created opportunities for new gardens, and Mrs. Ingram eagerly set to work often before construction was even completed.

Meanwhile, Mr. Frank Ingram pursued his scientific work, having received the Army Navy E Award at the end of World War II for manufacturing quartz crystal technology that advanced communications during the war. It has been said that this technology did as much to end the war as the atomic bomb. Later while assisting in the design of a special laboratory for the Smithsonian, Mr. Ingram designed and manufactured the thin section device that sliced the moon rocks collected during the Apollo missions. These machines are still manufactured and remain virtually unchanged today. He also experimented with high pressure and temperature systems for artificially producing emeralds as well as with development of artificial heart technology. All of this work took place in the dark green buildings at Meadowlark that have always been called, rather mysteriously, "the Shop." Apparently, the emerald experiments would shake the house some two hundred feet away. Mr. Ingram continued to pursue his many scientific projects until his health failed. Ultimately he received some nine patents for his efforts. "The Shop" was essentially closed by the early 1980's.

Mrs. Ingram recounts Julie Andrews in her famous role as Maria von Trapp saying, "When God closes a door, somewhere He opens a window." A family doctor asked Mr. and Mrs. Ingram if they would consider renting one of the cottages to his wife's aunt. The arrangements were made and thus began the cottage rental business which sustains the gardens to this day.

Presently at Meadowlark, there are hundreds of rare trees and plants, a beautiful collection of deciduous magnolias, and thousands of both English and American boxwoods. Many of the older boxwoods and flowering trees were actually rescued from the Ingram House on Taylor Street before it was razed in the early 1960's. Pieces of this house were used to expand the Ingram House at Meadowlark shortly thereafter. Dozens of pathways and allees meander through cozy garden rooms throughout the property. An ancient pecan extends an enormous branch beckoning toddlers to swing in the safety of a giant boxwood circle. Shady benches sit waiting to provide rest and views. It is truly a unique place. The gardens are maintained with revenues from the rental properties and the dedication and hard work of Mrs. Ingram and her two gardeners, Jeff Holland and Edward George Scott. The three have contributed  nearly 150 years of work to this unique and beautiful place.