As part of our trip we had the absolute delight and honor and blessing to be able to visit the late Rev. Howard Finster's Paradise Gardens located in Somerville Georgia.

At some point during the trip we realized we were only about 40 miles or so from Somerville and although we had checked the Finster website and knew they were only open by appointment or on saturdays I figgered we should at least go and look thru the fence. After winding our way through the Georgia pines we made our way to the tiny town of Somerville.

After lunch and letting Roscoe play at the BurgerKing PlayLand to unwind and then asking directions we were on our way to Paradise Gardens. Just down the road a piece and located in the middle of a lovely quiet small-town neigh- borhood Paradise Gardens seems of course out of place.

Tho not particularly viewable from the road the paintings on the out buildings show full well that you have arrived at a special place. As we parked I saw Rev.Finster's daughter Beverly out sweeping the front porch and I asked her if they were open and she said No but she would let us come on in. We paid the admission in the Finster shop and after eyeing some pieces we wanted Beverly kindly allowed us to enter Paradise Gardens.Click the pic to the right to visit our visit.

Click HERE to skip Paradise Gardens. not that you'd want to.