Public Works Installs Garden Club's Daffodil Sculptures At Hamilton House
Thursday, May 8th, 2025
The sun was shining Thursday for the dedication of a bed of bronze daffodils at the historic Hamilton House, but it might have been more appropriate for a light rain to have been falling instead. After all, it was a rain shower over New York's Central Park that inspired Dalton poet Robert Loveman in 1896 to write his poem "Rain Song" which in turn inspired the creation of the daffodil sculptures more than a century later. Initially "planted" at Heritage Point Park in 2004, the metal flowers now have a permanent home at the Hamilton House thanks to the Creative Garden Club and Dalton's Public Works Department.
"Everything that you see here that's been done, we need to thank the guys from Dalton Public Works," said Laurie Cope, a member of the Creative Garden Club committee that led the project. "Without them, we could not have done any of it. They were so kind, so patient, and always available for us, and we appreciate you guys so much. We love how things turned out."
Caption: A bed of bronze daffodil sculptures stands in front of the historic Hamilton House on Chattanooga Avenue
The Creative Garden Club commissioned the creation of the bronze daffodils to celebrate their club's 35th anniversary. The club engaged sculptor Merrill Hayes, a Dalton native, to create the flowers, which were inspired by the line in Loveman's poem that reads, "it isn't raining rain to me/it's raining daffodils." The bronze flowers were installed on a traffic island at Heritage Point Park near Dalton Middle School. The club hoped the flowers would remind students of the legacy of Dalton's famous poet laureate. The site never proved satisfactory for the installation, however, as the landscaping around the sculptures soon died and the white stone that replaced it turned out to be less attractive.
"So, we thought, 'that's not the right place,'" said Trisha Bethel, another member of the garden club committee. "So, they were removed (in 2021) and I hear there are people talking about putting 'Casey at the Bat' there, a big sculpture, which I think would be a great idea."
The bronze flowers were stored at the Dalton Public Works Department's facility on Elm Street for several years before the garden club decided that their permanent home should be at the Hamilton House. As the headquarters of the Whitfield-Murray Historical Society, the house is home to a collection of memorabilia from Robert Loveman's life and career. The Creative Garden Club contacted Jerome Key from the Public Works Department for help with the project. Key serves as the City arborist. He developed the plan for a flower bed display at the Hamilton House, and worked to weld groups of the daffodils together in bunches so they would appear more natural. He then worked with the rest of the Public Works Department to build the planter and install the sculptures along with a marker displaying the text of the "Rain Song" poem and recognitions for sculptor Merrill Hayes and Robert Loveman.
"I just think Public Works did an amazing job because not only did they plant the daffodils again, but they got creative and put them together in bunches like they grow," said Kathryn Sellers of the Creative Garden Club. "Before they used to be just little single flowers, but now they look so much more like they grow."
Caption: A dedication marker for the sculpture installation bears the text of Loveman's poem "Rain Song" and information about the artist and the project
Sellers closed Thursday's dedication ceremony with a brief history of Robert Loveman's life and career. She noted that "Rain Song" (also known by the title "April Rain") was significant not only as a famous poem, but also for being adapted for the song "April Showers" performed by Al Jolson on Broadway and also in the movie "The Jazz Singer" which was the first motion picture with sound. It was not the last of Loveman's poems to take on a second life in musical form, as his poem "Georgia" also was set to music by Lollie Belle Wylie and became the state's official song until being replaced by Ray Charles' "Georgia On My Mind."
Click here to see more pictures from Thursday morning's dedication ceremony in a photo galley on the City of Dalton's Facebook page
