Macon Magazine

Inspiration is like a bolt of lightning – you never know when or where it will strike. Local landscape architect Wimberly Treadwell vividly remembers her moment of inspiration. It struck during childhood – the day Edith Henderson, a trendy Atlanta-based landscape architect, swept into her family's home and breezily drew a design for the yard. "Corner by corner she sketched each area and listed the plants," Treadwell says. "I was mesmerized from the moment I saw her drawing. It was so free-flowing and looked like so much fun." Wimberly Dennis Treadwell is the product of a mixed marriage – architects on one side and clothiers on the other. "My father, grandfather and great-grandfather were architects," says Treadwell. eir firm, Dennis and Dennis, located in the Trust Company Building at Cherry and Second streets, was up the street from her maternal grandparents' clothing store, R.S. orpe's and Sons, where as a teen she wrapped packages at Christmastime. ose grandparents lived near Washington Park where Treadwell played and learned to swim in the concrete fountain, a makeshift pool. Born and raised in Macon, Treadwell has been enamored with downtown since her youth, which evokes memories of Pearly Brown crooning on a corner and the Allman Brothers sauntering down the street. "Everything happened downtown. It was so vibrant and THE place to go," says Treadwell. Recently, while interviewed on local radio station e Creek, she offered the crew a little history: e station's business office formerly housed R.S. orpe's boys department. eir reply? "How fitting." For Treadwell, a proud product of Rosa Taylor Elementary School, the Dennis home in Wimbish Woods was a veritable learning lab. "Anytime we went anywhere, my father would stop at his architectural jobs," she says. "We'd walk through houses and commercial buildings. I did the same with my grandfather, so I grew up learning about architecture and building construction." In high school, Treadwell worked weekends and summers at the family architectural firm. When her father was in the grips of a project, she says, "I was assigned details, like putting in doors and windows, which taught me at an early age that I hated details. To this day I hate them, and had no idea that computer-aided design was in the future." But the self-avowed detail-hater loved the outdoors and remained captivated by the idea of a career in residential landscape design. Her love of plants was fostered by her paternal grandfather, John Dennis, an original member of the Camellia Society. She was intrigued by the greenhouses and terraces of camellias he maintained at his Forsyth Road home. I 108 maconmagazine.com | JUNE/JULY 2020

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