Address: 7300 Brandon Mill Road, Sandy Springs, Ga. 30328
Workdays: Friday Mornings, (time depends on season) from Spring to Fall
Lost Corner Preserve is a 24 acre City of Sandy Springs passive park with walking trails, a community garden, the former owner’s original gardens and a charming 1920s craftsman bungalow built on top of the original homestead’s foundation remains from the 1850s.
Friends of Lost Corner (FOLC) is a non-profit organization that provides stewardship to the park through funding, community engagement, programming, volunteers, and support for park preservation. North Fulton Master Gardeners (NFMG) provides support to Friends of Lost Corner for gardening projects beyond the support of the City of Sandy Springs.
The park officially opened to the public on March 17, 2016. Friends of Lost Corner is the community organization, a 5103c, providing activities in the park and coordinating the local participation supporting the park. NFMG volunteers have worked individually at Lost Corner for several years. In 2018, NFMG began holding lecture classes in the Cottage which accommodates up to 40 people. The lectures were promoted by FOLC which coordinated promotion and other support by the City. The lecture program was discontinued in 2020 due to the Covid; however, FOLC continued supporting the promotion of the NFMG lecture series.
Working with FOLC President Trisha Thompson over the two years of lecture series, Ben Whitley became aware that there was no City support for the garden bed in front of the cottage and there was a need to refresh the bed. Trisha pointed out the bed of ephemerals under a 150 year oak tree. These plants which appear for a short time between February and April include native and non-native plants but there was no record of what was there. The grounds surrounding the cottage have native and non-native flowers, shrubs and trees. Individual FOLC board members knew where to find particular plants. However, there was no way to share this information with community visitors. NFMG members are working to identify and record these plants so the public can learn about them. NFMG is also undertaking an identification and mapping project of the native plants along the close to one mile of trails through the forest.
Lost Corner has a fine greenhouse moved from Glenridge Hall when that property was sold. The green house is currently under utilized and provides NFMG an opportunity to use it to teach the community about plant propagation. Currently, a federal/state government program is progressing to build a wildflower bed on the embankment adjacent the parking lot.
